Gestational Diabetes leading to Diabetes Type 2 in African American Women
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in pregnancy increases the risk of Diabetes Type 2 in African women and it is as high as 52%. The African women are less likely to develop Gestational Diabetes Mellitus during pregnancy, but all those who are diagnosed with this disease, the risk of developing diabetes increases in the future. It is more common in different ethnic groups.
According to a study the Asian and Pacific Islander women are most likely to develop GDM than the African or non-Hispanic white women. Ethnicity is another risk factor, which should be considered for diabetes type 2 disease. The risk of developing diabetes is complicated after GDM.
The study was performed on 77,666 ethnically diverse women who became mothers from 1995 to 2009 and the African women who were having GDM has the highest risk of evident risk of having Diabetes type 2 at later stages. The risk is 10 times higher if they developed GDM. All the respondents were screened for diabetes after the delivery after regular intervals.
GDM is the glucose intolerance that may occur at the second or third trimester and mostly occurs in Asian/ Pacific Islander women (17%) and least in African women (7%). Often complication like cesarean or early delivery. There is also of developing diabetes in babies, obesity and even metabolic diseases later in life. GDM lasts only during the pregnancy and goes away after the delivery, but leaves the concern of overt diabetes in future.
A lifestyle change like in diet or increased physical activity reduces the risk of diabetes. The prevention and awareness messages are most important to the African women. Another study results showed that 14,000 women who gave birth at Kaiser Permanente Southern California hospitals were tested for GDM and the ethnic results were same as that of the other. After this study the researchers were unable to find the exact cause of higher risk of diabetes, but the genetic, environmental and lifestyle surely contribute towards the development of this disease.Diabetes is considered as a silent killer because it gradually decreases the functionality of the internal systems of the body.
