An Israeli research team has come up with what it says are
simpler and more accurate ways to screen pregnant women for
gestational diabetes, a condition with profound implications for
the health of both mothers and their unborn and newborn infants.
The researchers, led by Prof. Moshe Hod of Petah Tikva’s Rabin
Medical Center, proposed simple alternatives to the standard
oral glucose tolerance test, which is usually administered
between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy and which involves
drinking one or measured doses of glucose and then testing blood
sugar levels over a period of hours. They said using either a
simple blood-glucose test, without prior oral glucose ingestion,
or measuring the size and weight of the fetus, could increase by
up to 50 percent the number of cases of gestational diabetes
that are diagnosed in the course of pregnancy. Gestational
diabetes often causes complications such as pregnancy-induced
hypertension or an exceptionally big fetus, which increases the
chances of child obesity.