Pregnancy Loss Might Gain Diabetes

A history of spontaneous or induced abortion is associated with a subsequent risk of gestational diabetes.

The history of spontaneous abortion (SAB) is linked to increased risk of gestational diabetes in later pregnancies, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open.

Data shows up to 30% of all pregnancies terminate in spontaneous abortion, which has been associated with later risk of heart disease, vascular problems, and type 2 diabetes.

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‘Women with a history of spontaneous abortion had an 18% greater relative risk of gestational diabetes than their counterparts.’

This along with the increasing burden of gestational diabetes made researchers from the School of Medicine at Tongji University assess whether spontaneous or induced abortion was associated with an increased risk of gestational diabetes.

Keeping this in mind, researchers designed a study of pregnant women who registered in the outpatient clinics of the department of obstetrics at a tertiary hospital in Shanghai, China, and visited the clinic regularly from January 2014-December 2019.

Of these 65,728 have no abortion history, 14,579 have spontaneous abortion experience only, 17,935 have induced abortion experience only, and 4017 have both spontaneous abortion and induced abortion experience.

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Overall, 12,153 cases of gestational diabetes were identified, with a prevalence rate of 11.9%.

Compared to their counterparts without a history of abortion, those with an abortion history were more likely to have obesity, and the proportion of pregnant women older than 35 years was more than 2-fold greater among pregnant women with abortion history than those with no abortion history.

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Upon analysis, they found women who experienced only spontaneous abortion or both spontaneous abortion and induced abortion were at an elevated risk for development of gestational diabetes.

Further analysis indicated the association between history of spontaneous abortion and gestational diabetes appeared to occur in a number-dependent manner. They also noted no associations were observed for the history of induced abortion only with increased risk of gestational diabetes.

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These findings suggest that pregnant women with a history of spontaneous abortion should attend more antenatal visits to monitor their blood glucose and implement early prevention and intervention.

Considering the short- and long-term adverse effects of gestational diabetes on both mothers and their offspring, this study findings may also have potential public health implications.

Source-Medindia