Gestational Diabetes Risk May Be Affected By Both Parents’ Races
By Mike Boyle
A new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology says Asian and Hispanic women may have a heightened risk of developing pregnancy-related or “gestational” diabetes – and so could women with partners of those same backgrounds.
Researchers found that among nearly 140,000 women in one large California health plan, Asian women had the highest rate of gestational diabetes, at nearly 7 percent, reports Reuters. They were followed by Native American women, at 5.6 percent, and Latina women, at 5 percent.
Meanwhile, the rates of gestational diabetes among white and black women stood between 3 and 4 percent.
However, the study also found that it wasn’t only women’s race and ethnicity that mattered, as expectant fathers’ backgrounds also showed an independent association with the risk of “gestational” diabetes.
Researchers found that when the father was Asian or Hispanic, a woman’s risk of gestational diabetes was 41 percent and 29 percent higher, respectively, compared with when the father was white. That was with other factors – including the mother’s race and ethnicity, age, body weight and education – taken into account.
Gestational diabetes is estimated to affect between 3 percent and 8 percent of pregnant women in the U.S. It arises during pregnancy and goes away soon after childbirth; though women who develop it have a higher-than-average risk of eventually developing type 2 diabetes.
Read more on the study from Reuters here, and take a look at an abstract of the actual study here.
