11.69 per cent of pregnant women in Bengal have GDM: Study

Around 11.69 per cent women in West Bengal have gestational diabetes, a condition in which women without previously diagnosed diabetes exhibit high blood glucose levels during pregnancy, according to a recent study.
A study "Gestational Diabetes: How risky are the mothers of rural Bengal", published in the Global Journal of Medicine and Public Health, showed that 11.69 per cent women in West Bengal, especially in rural areas, suffered from gestational diabetes.
Babies born to mothers with untreated gestational diabetes are typically at an increased risk of developing problems such as large size for gestational age (which may lead to delivery complications), low blood sugar and jaundice.

If untreated, it can also cause seizures or still-birth, according to the study.
The incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus along with maternal and foetal outcome during delivery and postnatal period showed alarming results of incidence of GDM among the people under study where the risk to develop Gestational Diabetes was 32.4 per cent in the age group of above 20 years and increased to 41.4 per cent in age group above 30 years, it said.