Gestational diabetes in a Mexican-U.S. border population: prevalence and epidemiology.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of gestational diabetes (GD) in a Mexican-U.S. border population and to observe the response of such a population to a 100 gram challenge of glucose.
Research Design and Methods: The sample was a cross section of 519 pregnant women accesing different health institutions in Juarez, Mexico, with 24-36 weeks of gestation. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) with a 100 gram challenge of glucose was done on all. Results were interpreted according to the diagnostic criteria of O'Sullivan and Mahan. Information on family history of diabetes, obstetric history, height and weight was obtained.
Results: A total of 20.4% of the patients examined had some kind of glucose intolerance 11% with GD and 9.4% with one abnormal value during the glucose tolerance test. The patients with GD tended to be older, had higher gravidity, lower height, higher weight and reported frequently a family history of diabetes. The patients with one abnormal value were similar to those with GD in weight and number of pregnancies, and were comparable to the group with normal glucose tolerance test in height and family history of diabetes.
Conclusions: We found a high prevalence of GD and of one abnormal value during the OGTT in a Mexican population. The recommendations for screening for GD must be consistently implemented in pregnant women of Mexican ancestry.