In a retrospective study in Navajo women, the risk of diabetes after GDM was estimated to be 50 to 70% after 11 years. Another study found a risk of diabetes after GDM of more than 25% after 15 years. In populations with a low risk for type 2 diabetes, in lean subjects and in women with auto-antibodies, there is a higher rate of women developing type 1 diabetes (LADA).Children of women with GDM have an increased risk for childhood and adult obesity and an increased risk of glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes later in life. This risk relates to increased maternal glucose values. It is currently unclear how much genetic susceptibility and environmental factors contribute to this risk, and whether treatment of GDM can influence this outcome.Relative benefits and harms of different oral anti-diabetic medications are not yet well understood as of 2017.There are scarce statistical data on the risk of other conditions in women with GDM; in the Jerusalem Perinatal study, 410 out of 37,962 women were reported to have GDM, and there was a tendency towards more breast and pancreatic cancer, but more research is needed to confirm this finding.Research is being conducted to develop a web-based clinical decision support system for GDM prediction using machine learning techniques. Results so far demonstrated great potential in clinical practicality for automatic GDM prognosis. Complications
GDM poses a risk to mother and child. This risk is largely related to uncontrolled blood glucose levels and its consequences. The risk increases with higher blood glucose levels.
Birth defects usually originate sometime during the first trimester (before the 13th week) of pregnancy, whereas GDM gradually develops and is least pronounced during the first and early second trimester. Studies have shown that the offspring of women with GDM are at a higher risk for congenital malformations. A large case-control study found that gestational diabetes was linked with a limited group of birth defects, and that this association was generally limited to women with a higher body mass index (≥ 25 kg/m2). It is difficult to make sure that this is not partially due to the inclusion of women with pre-existent type 2 diabetes who were not diagnosed before pregnancy. Because of conflicting studies, it is unclear at the moment whether women with GDM have a higher risk of preeclampsia. In the HAPO study, the risk of preeclampsia was between 13% and 37% higher, although not all possible confounding factors were corrected. Epidemiology
Gestational diabetes affects 3–10% of pregnancies, depending on the population studied. References
External links

IDF Diabetes Atlas
International Diabetes Federation
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development – Am I at Risk for Gestational Diabetes? National Institute of Child Health and Human Development – Managing Gestational Diabetes: A Patients Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy
Gestational Diabetes Resource Guide – American Diabetes Association
Diabetes.co.uk: Gestational Diabetes