Gestational Diabetes And Heart Problems

Researchers have unearthed staggering evidence on the effect of gestational diabetes - a phenomena where a temporary high level of sugar is observed in blood during pregnancy on women. It is seen that women with gestational diabetes often suffer from heart problems later in their life. The study carried out by a Canadian research group showed that even a mild change in the blood sugar levels for women during pregnancy has a steep heart risk effect in future.

The study published in journal of the Canadian Medical Association, throws open a new door in the path to finding the cause of heart diseases in women. What this implies is that doctors can use the screening tests of the identification of intolerance in blood sugar levels to analyze the data and predict those women who may suffer cardio-vascular problems at a later date. With heart diseases being one of the main death cause for women in many countries like Canada, these studies prove worthy of continue research and development.

Till recently, only women who showed advanced and drastic changes in blood sugar levels were treated for gestational diabetes and any further risk that might be imminent in these women were not considered. But contrastingly, the study show that even a mild change in the blood sugar levels may be an indication of a mushrooming heart problem.

Dr. Baiju Shah of the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences in Toronto, responded for an email interview. He feels that these mild variations when detected during pregnancy can be a marker to be extra cautious and these women should be constantly checked for heart problems and remedial measures can be taken at the slightest possible hint of trouble. Being prepared helps save a lot of lives which would otherwise have been impossible. Mild and normal gestational diabetes was found to result in extra 5 deaths out of ten thousand women.

Researchers conducted a study on 435696 women who delivered their babies in Ontario, Canada between April '94 and March '98. Women with preexisting diabetes were naturally excluded. The pregnant women who were in their second trimester were given a sweet drink and their blood was removed in small quantities to check the changes in the blood sugar levels.

Links have been found between abnormal insulin difference, varying cholesterol and cardio vascular symptoms. Often, people who had one of these tend to develop the others. This has led to the conclusion that type II diabetes is a vascular disease first, says Dr. J. Kennedy Cruickshank and Dr. Moulinath Baerjee of the department of cardiovascular sciences at the University of Manchester in England. They feel that blood vessel changes, as regards to blood sugar changes are as important in diagnosing heart problems in young pregnant women.