Gestational diabetes in Eastern Saudi Arabia

Aim: We introduced a screening protocol for the diagnosis of gestational diabetes at Oatif Central Hospital in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Design: We gave 50 g of glucose to each overnight fasted gravid woman and the plasma glucose level was measured 1 h afterwards. A threshold for positive screening was put at 7.8-10 mu mol/l. Patients who screened positive were subjected to oral glucose tolerance test to confirm diagnosis. Main outcome, measures, and conclusion: It was found that 15.2% of our subjects screened positive. However, when the patients were subjected to an oral glucose tolerance test, the incidence of the disorder in our population was 6.0%. Our screening and diagnostic protocol identified virtually all gravid women with probability of gestational diabetes. Once identified, the gestational diabetic women were diet- and/or insulin-managed through the antenatal period. Consequently, their pregnancies proceeded without overt difficulties, and the outcome compared favourably with control (non-diabetic) gravid women.