Maternal characteristics
424 pregnancy pairs were analysed: 170 pairs from RHW (centre 1) and 254
pregnancy pairs from BMDH (centre 2). A total of 807 pregnancies in 375
women were studied, with 31 women having three GDM pregnancies and five
having four GDM pregnancies.
Maternal characteristics in index and subsequent GDM pregnancies are
shown in Table 1. The mean age was 30.6±4.9 years in the index pregnancy
and 33.5±4.9 years in the subsequent pregnancy. Booking-in weight and
BMI were higher in the subsequent pregnancy (p<0.001), and GDM
was diagnosed 3 weeks earlier (p<0.001) with a higher rate of
early GDM (42.5% vs 9.7%, p<0.001). The rate of medication
use (insulin, metformin or both) was higher in the subsequent pregnancy
(63.7% vs 54.0%, p<0.001) and medication was started 3 weeks
earlier (p<0.001). There were no differences in GTT results in
the index versus subsequent pregnancy.
While there were some minor differences in maternal characteristics
between the two centres, interpregnancy changes were generally
comparable. The mean increment in age between index and subsequent
pregnancies was slightly smaller in centre 1 versus centre 2 (2.6±1.3 vs
3.1±1.7 years, p=0.001). Similarly, the mean increment in body weight at
booking-in (the first antenatal visit) was smaller in centre 1 (1.8±5.7
vs 3.1±6.1 kg, p=0.03). There were no significant differences in
interval changes between centres for other maternal parameters including
BMI at booking-in and glucose levels on the GTT.