Could Fasting Plasma Glucose Be Used for Screening High-Risk Outpatients for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus?
- Luiz Guilherme Kraemer de Aguiar, MD,
- Haroldo José de Matos, MD and
- Marília de Brito Gomes, MD
- Department of Medicine, Diabetes Unit, State University Hospital of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The simplified oral glucose tolerance test (sOGTT) with 50 g is recommended for the screening of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) (1). However, because of the complexity of the test, the investigation of less expensive and easier methods to perform the screening has been extensively studied. Recently, in agreement with other studies (3), a population-based prospective study conducted on the general population of pregnant women in Brazil showed that fasting plasma glucose (FPG) was a good screening method for GDM (2).
With the purpose of determining an FPG value with good sensitivity and specificity that could identify pregnant women at risk for GDM, we conducted a study in 1994 with high-risk outpatient pregnant women in the State University Hospital of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. During that year, 269 pregnant outpatients with at least one risk factor for GDM were included in the study. A screening test was performed on 261 pregnant women with 50 g of glucose load at …
