A physician reminder to improve postpartum diabetes screening in women with gestational diabetes mellitus

Aims: Women with gestational diabetes (GDM) have a 20% risk of developing diabetes in the 10 years following pregnancy, but the risk may be as high as 70% in higher risk populations. Guidelines recommend screening for diabetes postpartum, but screening rates are low. We evaluated the effect of a physician reminder on postpartum screening and in women with GDM.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review among women with GDM seen at our urban, academic endocrine clinic in Toronto, Canada between 2006 and 2010. Our primary outcome was to evaluate the effect of a reminder checklist on postpartum diabetes screening rates.

Results: We included 314 women in our study, 173 had a checklist on their chart. Women had a mean age of 34.9 years, 45% were Caucasian and 23% had a previous GDM. The checklist was associated with a 3 fold increase in odds of being screened postpartum, and nearly 4 fold increase in postpartum follow up visits (OR 2.99, 95% CI 1.84-4.85 and OR 3.71, 95% CI 2.26-6.11).

Conclusion: A physician based reminder system is an effective way to improve postpartum screening rates. To further increase screening rates, a multilevel approach targeting both patients and physicians is required.