Objective: To identify risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in women and to study the contribution of family history of type-2 diabetes to the risk for DDM.
Methods: A case-control study was performed in 85 women with GDM and 177 cases controls. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression and log-linear model were used to identify risk factors of GDM.
Results: Multivariate logistic regression showed that obesity before pregnancy, family history of type-2 diabetes, birth weight of pregnant women, age, fasting plasma level of triglyceride, physical inactivity, etc. all were risk factors for GDM. Analysis with log-linear model showed that parents' (father's or mother's) history of type-2 diabetes associated with GDM, with P-values of 0.012 and 0.017, respectively. Prevalence of diabetes in the mothers of proband with GDM was 9.41%, as compared with that in the fathers of proband with GDM 8.24%, with no statistical significance.
Conclusions: Obesity before gestation, family history of type-2 diabetes, low birth weight of mother, age, increased fasting plasma level of triglyceride, as well as parents' history of type-2 diabetes, all were risk factors for GDM. Physical exercise was found to be a protective factor for GDM. Mother's history of type-2 diabetes did not differ from father's in contributing to the onset of GDM in their offspring.