[Incidence of gestational diabetes and relationship to obesity in Chilean pregnant women].

BACKGROUND: Gestational diabetes (GDM) is associated to a worse outcome of pregnancy. This justifies efforts for finding possible causes of GDM that would allow implementing preventive interventions. AIM: To study incidence of GDM and its relation with obesity and other traditional risk factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective study was performed in 234 women who had delivered a singleton during the last 12 months, attended in an outpatient clinic in Santiago, Chile. Familiar and personal history, body mass index (BMI), obstetrical-related pathology and data about the labor and the newborn were analyzed. RESULTS: GDM was diagnosed in 11.2% of the women. BMI before pregnancy was 26.6 +/- 4.4 kg/m2 (mean +/- SD) and it was 25 or over in 37.8% of women. Women who developed GDM had significantly higher BMI in the pre-pregnancy stage and in the second and third trimester of pregnancy (p < 0.001). The average age was greater in the GDM group (31 +/- 0.2 yr versus 26 +/- 0.41 yr). Incidence of GDM was 14.4% among women 25 years old or older and increased to 21.4% when they had, in addition, a BMI of 25 or over. Age, BMI, and family history of diabetes were all independently correlated with the development of GDM. Elective caesarean sections were more common in GDM than in non-GDM women (p < or = 0.01) and complications were present in 3/23 of newborns of women with GDM and 2/199 among women without GDM (p < 0.01) CONCLUSIONS: GDM and obesity are highly prevalent in Chilean pregnant women. BMI, first degree relative with DM and age are independent risk factors for the development of GDM.