Abstract

Objective. Gestational diabetes is an increasingly prevalent risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes in the mother and is responsible for morbidity in the child. In order to better identify women at risk of developing gestational diabetes we examined socio-demographic correlates and changes in the prevalence of gestational diabetes among all births between 1995 and 2005 in Australia's largest state.

Research Design and Methods A computerized database of all births (n = 956,738) between 1995 and 2005 in New South Wales, Australia was used in a multivariate logistic regression that examined the association between socio-demographic characteristics and the occurrence of gestational diabetes.

Results: Between 1995 and 2005, the prevalence of gestational diabetes increased by 45%, from 3.0% to 4.4%. Women born in South Asia had the highest adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of any region (4.33 [95% CI: 4.12-4.55]) relative to women born in Australia. Women living in the three lowest socioeconomic quartiles had higher AOR for GDM relative to women in the highest quartile (1.54 [1.50-1.59], 1.74 [1.69-1.8] and 1.65 [1.60-1.70] for decreasing SES quartiles). Increasing age was strongly associated with GDM, women over 40 years having an AOR of 6.13 [5.79-6.49] relative to women in their early 20s. Parity was associated with a small reduced risk. There was no association between smoking and gestational diabetes.

Conclusions: Maternal age, socioeconomic position and ethnicity are important correlates of gestational diabetes. Future culturally-specific interventions should target prevention of gestational diabetes in these identified high-risk groups.