Diabetic women at major risk during pregnancy, say experts

Nagpur: Diabetic women are at major risk during pregnancy and should ensure periodic screening under medical supervision, according to doctors speaking at a health conference organized on Saturday. Experts said pregnant women with diabetes pose a threat not only to themselves but also to the foetus.
The 13th edition of Maha-RSSDI (Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India) saw many experts talk about the ailment that is now affecting more and more younger people.

Dr Sunil Gupta, one of the organizers, said that two factors are raising a red flag in the fight against diabetes. “The age of conception is going up while the age of people diagnosed with diabetes is coming down. These two factors pose a big challenge and it is important for women to get themselves checked to prevent further harm,” he said.

The ‘further harm’ means the health risks diabetes poses for the foetus. “When the foetus is growing in a diabetic environment there are major health risks for the unborn child. Such children are more likely to develop complications such as coronary disease, obesity etc,” said Dr Gupta.

He advised that women should ideally get a full check-up done before planning conception. “That would be the best case scenario. But even after conception, women should be getting themselves checked up every trimester so that these complications can be prevented,” said Dr Gupta.

Also, the age group of patients is getting younger by the day, which he says is the result of drastic changes to lifestyle. “I call it the 1982 Asiad syndrome. That was when televisions landed up in many homes and continued to spread across the nation. Suddenly our active lifestyle was replaced by a sedentary one. I believe India was not ready for it at all and that has led to these health problems,” said Dr Gupta.

Experts also spoke about the use of various new medications for diabetes and how it affects a pregnant patient. Dr Gupta said, “We strongly advise doctors to inform patients about the lack of long term study of certain drugs and get a legal waiver before proceeding with such a line of treatment.”