Effects of nutritional nursing intervention based on glycemic load for patient with gestational diabetes mellitus.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of nutritional nursing intervention based on glycemic load (GL) for patients with gestational diabetes mellitus. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred thirty-four patients diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus at our hospital were selected from March 2015 to March 2017 and randomly divided into the observation (n = 67) and control groups (n = 67). All of the patients in the observation and control groups received conventional nutritional nursing. In addition, the patients in the observation group received nutritional nursing intervention based on GL. The changes in blood glucose levels and pregnancy outcomes were compared between the two groups after intervention. RESULTS: There were significant differences in fasting blood glucose (FBG) and the 2h postprandial glucose (2hPG) levels between the two groups (P < 0.05). There was a lower incidence of premature delivery, fetal macrosomia, eclampsia, preg- nancy hypertension syndrome, and fetal distress in the observation group. CONCLUSIONS: Nutritional nursing intervention based on GL is more effective than traditional nutritional nursing for patients with gestational diabetes, and can effectively control the blood glucose level, reduce the incidence of pregnant complica- tions, and improve the pregnancy outcome. Thus, nutritional nursing intervention based on GL deserves to be popularized.