[Diabetes and pregnancy in Mexico].

OBJECTIVE

To review the Mexican studies published in the last 15 years on diabetes mellitus (DM) and pregnancy.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We found five descriptive studies on DM and pregnancy and six on the detection of gestational diabetes (GDM) in normal pregnant women using the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).

RESULTS

The first group of studies comprised 689 patients: 331 with pregestational DM type 2 and 32 type 1; the other 326 patients (47%) had GDM established by clinical symptoms and hyperglycemia, or by fasting hyperglycemia (> 140 mg/dL) in at least two ocassions. The distribution of types 1 and 2 was similar in the five studies. Maternal complications were toxemia in 18%, polyhydramnios is 10% and urinary infection in 6%. Perinatal mortality was 7%, congenital malformations in 6%, macrosomia in 25% and prematurity in 8%. In the puerperium 71 women with GDM were reevaluated: 48 (68%) were type 2, one (1%) type 1, three (4%) glucose intolerance (GI) and 19 (27%) were normal to an OGTT test. The six studies on GMD in normal pregnants were done using the OGTT. Three studies were done in the city of Monterrey, state of Nuevo Leon and show a prevalence of 4.3 to 6%, mean 5.3%. The other three studies show a prevalence of 10.5 to 11%. In the puerperium, 26 women were reevaluated: only three were type 2 (12%), five GI (19%) and 18 (69%) had a normal response to the OGTT.

CONCLUSIONS

Type 2 DM is the more frequent type of diabetes associated to pregnancy in Mexican groups; the systematic screening for GDM in normal pregnant women yields 4 to 11% of positivity.