Does gestational diabetes require early delivery?

Written by Luo Han Ying
Endocrinology
Updated on January 12, 2025
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Patients with gestational diabetes primarily have higher blood sugar levels compared to normal pregnant women. For such individuals, strict blood sugar control is generally required. Poor control of blood sugar can significantly impact the baby and pose dangers during childbirth. However, for those patients with well-controlled gestational diabetes, it is possible to carry the pregnancy to full term without the need for early delivery. Early delivery, leading to a premature birth, can have a greater detrimental effect on the infant than the effects caused by high blood sugar. Therefore, patients with gestational diabetes do not need to deliver early. They can manage their condition through strict dietary control, including fetal monitoring and close monitoring of the baby’s vital signs, considering delivery only after reaching full term.

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Written by Luo Han Ying
Endocrinology
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When can gestational diabetes be cured?

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that is somewhat unique. People in this category usually have normal blood glucose levels before pregnancy. However, between the 24th to 28th week of pregnancy, an oral glucose tolerance test is conducted, and if high blood glucose levels are detected, a diagnosis of gestational diabetes is made. For such patients, it is generally recommended to conduct another oral glucose tolerance test 6-8 weeks postpartum. If the results are normal at this time, it indicates that the patient does not have diabetes. However, a very small proportion of individuals may still exhibit high blood glucose levels after the 6-8 week postpartum re-examination. In such cases, continued treatment for diabetes might be necessary.

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Written by Zhao Dan
Orthopedics
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What is gestational diabetes?

The group of people who were diagnosed with diabetes before pregnancy is called gestational concurrent diabetes. Those who were not diagnosed with diabetes before pregnancy, but were diagnosed after becoming pregnant, are referred to as having gestational diabetes. Eighty percent of women are diagnosed with gestational diabetes, while twenty percent have gestational concurrent diabetes.

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Written by Xu Dong Dong
Endocrinology
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Gestational diabetes standard values

The screening for gestational diabetes should be conducted between the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy. This includes a 75g glucose test, where 75 grams of anhydrous glucose is dissolved in water and consumed within five minutes on an empty stomach. This test monitors fasting blood sugar, blood sugar one hour after the meal, and blood sugar two hours after the meal. A diagnosis of gestational diabetes is made if any of the following criteria are met or exceeded: fasting blood sugar is greater than or equal to 5.1 mmol/L, blood sugar one hour after the meal is greater than or equal to 10 mmol/L, and blood sugar two hours after the meal is greater than or equal to 8.5 mmol/L.

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Written by Chen Li Ping
Endocrinology
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Does gestational diabetes cause itching in the vulva?

During gestational diabetes, white blood cells have various functional defects, reduced chemotaxis, phagocytic action, and bactericidal activity. This can easily lead to infections during pregnancy or childbirth, and even develop into sepsis, often caused by bacteria or fungi. Therefore, when blood sugar is not controlled in gestational diabetes, there may be symptoms like vulvar itching, or even infections of the urinary or reproductive systems. If the infection is not further treated, it may cause preterm birth, or even septic shock. Therefore, in gestational diabetes, it is crucial to actively control blood sugar and prevent infections.

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Written by Liang Yin
Endocrinology
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How is gestational diabetes treated?

The treatment of gestational diabetes includes dietary therapy, exercise therapy, and insulin therapy. For dietary therapy, we mainly control the total calorie intake and supplement with elements such as calcium, iron, folic acid, and various vitamins; in exercise therapy, we aim to control the speed of weight gain, improve the peripheral tissues' utilization of glucose, and improve the lipid profile. For patients whose blood glucose levels do not meet the standards after two weeks of diet and exercise therapy, we initiate insulin therapy. The goal of insulin therapy is to control fasting blood glucose below 5.3 and postprandial blood glucose below 6.7. The methods of insulin therapy include twice daily injections, multiple daily injections, or the use of an insulin pump.