Being pregnant for the second time, Ms. Nguyen Thu Trang, 32 years old in Hoai Duc, Hanoi, still maintains the habit of going for regular prenatal check-ups. However, being subjective in screening for gestational diabetes has caused her to fall into an unwanted situation: Continuing to have gestational diabetes, even though she previously believed that she had prevented it very carefully.
According to Ms. Trang's sharing, in her first pregnancy, she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes but at a mild level. At that time, she thought the cause stemmed from eating a lot of sweets. Therefore, entering her second pregnancy, she almost completely abstained from cakes, candies, soft drinks and sugary foods. Believing that she was "safe", she did not rush to have a gestational diabetes screening test.
Only until the 6th month of pregnancy, when going for a test as prescribed, the results surprised her: blood sugar indicators showed that she had gestational diabetes.
According to BSCKI Dang Van Ha - Reproductive Support Center, An Viet General Hospital, Ms. Trang's case is not isolated. Usually, pregnant women are recommended for gestational diabetes screening in weeks 24-28. However, for women in high-risk groups, screening should be performed earlier, right from the 12th week of pregnancy.
Groups of pregnant women at high risk include: People with family history of diabetes; who have had gestational diabetes in the previous pregnancy; who have had large children, stillbirth (especially in the last 3 months), birth defects; multiple consecutive miscarriages; obesity, high blood pressure... For these subjects, early screening is a key factor to help detect and control the disease promptly.
BSCKI Dang Van Ha emphasized that gestational diabetes (or gestational diabetes) is a metabolic disorder that causes high blood sugar during pregnancy and cannot be underestimated. Any pregnant woman is at risk of getting the disease, not just those who eat a lot of sweets.
Statistics show that about 10% of pregnant women experience gestational diabetes. Most cases will subside and disappear after birth, but if not well controlled, gestational diabetes can cause many dangerous complications for both mother and fetus, even progressing to real diabetes.
It is noteworthy that gestational diabetes often has no obvious symptoms. Most pregnant women only detect the disease through screening and regular prenatal check-ups. Some suspicious signs that may occur include: frequent thirst, frequent urination, eating more than normal.
If blood sugar is not controlled, pregnancy is at risk of facing many bad outcomes such as miscarriage, premature birth, birth defects, stillbirth, multiple amniotic fluids, fetuses that are too large or slow to grow in the uterus. For pregnant mothers, the risk of pre-eclampsia and having to have cesarean sections also increases.
Not only that, children born from mothers with gestational diabetes have a higher risk of hypoglycemia, jaundice, and postpartum respiratory failure than normal children.
Treatment of gestational diabetes needs to be done early and pregnant women must strictly follow the doctor's instructions. The goal is to maintain stable blood sugar, thereby minimizing the risk of complications for mothers and fetuses" - BSCKI Dang Van Ha recommends.
Doctors emphasize that timely and unsubjective pregnancy diabetes screening is the key to protecting the health of both mother and child throughout pregnancy.
