Contents

Disclaimer

Oxford University Press makes no representation, express or implied, that the drug dosages in this book are correct. Readers must therefore always check the product information and clinical procedures with the most up to date published product information and data sheets provided by the manufacturers and the most recent codes of conduct and safety regulations. The authors and the publishers do not accept responsibility or legal liability for any errors in the text or for the misuse or misapplication of material in this work. Except where otherwise stated, drug dosages and recommendations are for the non-pregnant adult who is not breastfeeding.

Show Summary Details
Page of

Diabetes management in pregnancy 

Diabetes management in pregnancy
Chapter:
Diabetes management in pregnancy
Author(s):

David R. McCance

DOI:
10.1093/med/9780199235292.003.1499
Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD MEDICINE ONLINE (www.oxfordmedicine.com). © Oxford University Press, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Medicine Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 26 June 2019

Although the outlook for the woman with diabetes has greatly improved since the discovery of insulin, the goal of the St. Vincent Declaration (1989) that the outcome of diabetic pregnancy should approximate that of nondiabetic pregnancy has still not been realized. In the mid 1990s, a number of regional UK centres reported a four-fold to ten-fold increase in congenital malformations and three- to five-fold increase in perinatal mortality, compared with the background population. A general increase in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is being translated into the pregnancy context and outcomes appear similar to those of type 1 diabetes. The problem of pregnancy planning and other key demographic and pregnancy-related features were highlighted in a major UK Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH) during 2002–2003, which has provided a largely unrivalled source of reference (1). While the relevance of overt hyperglycaemia to maternal and perinatal outcomes is now clearly established, the significance of minor degrees of hyperglycaemia for maternal/fetal outcome has been the subject of much controversy and dogma. The lack of a robust evidence base is reflected in the lack of consensus among published guidelines (2).

Despite these limitations, the outcome of pregnancy for most women with diabetes is good, and this undoubtedly reflects improved obstetric surveillance and better management of maternal hyperglycaemia over the last several decades. The aim is, through education and maternal empowerment, to optimize blood glucose control both before and during pregnancy, so that pregnancy may proceed as normally as possible and result in the birth of a normal baby at near term.

The last few years have seen the publication of a number of landmark observational studies and randomized trials (3–8), which have the potential to alter the diagnostic and therapeutic landscape considerably. Some guidance for the management of diabetes in pregnancy has recently been published (9, 10).

Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.

Please subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.

For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.