RESUMO
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) has been well documented to be associated with significant mortality and morbidity among both mother and their offspring. Prevalence of GDM in India varies between regions and has been documented to be on the rise over the last two decades which is a public health concern and reflects an increase in the frequency of type 2 diabetes mellitus in these populations. This study aimed at estimating the prevalence of GDM among antenatal women attending a rural secondary care hospital in southern India and attempts to study associations between anthropometry, parental history, physical activity of pregnant women and GDM. METHODS: A hospital based cross sectional study was done among 630 pregnant women who were screened with oral glucose tolerance test between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation based on IADPSG criteria. Risk factors for developing GDM were assessed by conducting home visits to 75 women diagnosed to have GDM and 150 randomly selected women without GDM. RESULTS: Hospital based prevalence of GDM was 14% (95 % CI: 11.3% to 16.7%) and a significant rise in prevalence levels was noted with age. Women with family history of diabetes mellitus, women with body fat of more than 23% had 2.65 and 2.89 times significantly higher odds of developing GDM. Interpretation and conclusion: Family history of diabetes and excess body fat are risk factors associated with GDM. Among them excess body fat could be an independent risk factor without the influence of foetal weight and preventive measures could be directed towards it.