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Objective: To analyze trends of diagnoses of diabetes mellitus in hospital deliveries., Methods: Transversal study analyzing data on hospital deliveries for pregnant women living in Ribeirão Preto, SP, from 1998 to 2007. The data on diabetes mellitus in pregnancy were obtained from the Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto of the Universidade de São Paulo Hospital Data Processing Center. The data analyzed were: age group, type of delivery (vaginal or cesarean), length of hospitalization and type of care: public (SUS) or private (private and supplemented health care)., Results: There was a 3.9 fold increase in the proportion of deliveries with a record of diabetes in relation to the total number of births (p = 0.01). This increase was of 4.5 times in deliveries in the public health care system (p = 0.01) and 3 times in private care. An increase in the presence of diabetes was observed in all age groups, proportionally larger in lower age groups. The frequency of cesarean delivery in pregnancies which recorded diabetes fell from 64.5% in 1998/1999 to 39.8% in 2006/2007 in the public system; in the private system the frequency remained over 90%., Conclusions: The presence of diabetes mellitus in hospital deliveries increased throughout the two year periods, despite a fall in the overall number of deliveries and an increase in the number of women of childbearing age living in Ribeirão Preto. This trend means that not only diagnosis and treatment, but also pre-pregnancy interventions which may reverse it are called for.