A Study on the Effect of Individualized Inpatient Diabetes Education for Incidence of Heavy-for-Date Infants in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

To determine the association of educational hospitalization (EH) for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) with a reduction in the incidence of heavy-for-date (HFD) infants, we retrospectively examined the clinical data of 165 GDM women with a singleton pregnancy referred to us by Week 30 of gestation who consented to EH (EH Group, n=118) or received outpatient management (OM Group, n=47). EH was usually performed for three days and included education on self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), daily profiling of plasma glucose, nutritional guidance and medical consultation. SMBG and nutritional guidance were also provided to the OM Group. The incidence of HFD infants (6.8 %) and gestational weight gain (6.05 kg) tended to be lower in the EH group in the present study than in previous reports. A multiple logistic regression analysis suggested that gestational weight gain and EH were independently associated with HFD birth. Although the EH Group may have simply been more health-conscious at baseline, EH may indeed influence the pregnancy outcome.