Prevalence of Screening for Diabetes Mellitus in Patients Previously Diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes: Factors Related to its Performance

Objective To determine how many patients underwent screening for diabetes mellitus (DM) in the puerperium after a diagnosis of gestational DM (GDM) and which factors were related to its performance. Methods The present is a prospective cohort study with 175 women with a diagnosis of GDM. Sociodemographic and clinico-obstetric data were collected through a questionnaire and a screening test for DM was requested six weeks postpartum. After ten weeks, the researchers contacted the patients by telephone with questions about the performance of the screening. The categorical variables were expressed as absolute and relative frequencies. The measure of association was the relative risk with a 95% confidence interval (95%CI), and values of p ≤ 0.05 were considered statistically significant and tested through logistic regression. Results The survey was completed by 159 patients, 32 (20.1%) of whom underwent puerperal screening. The mean age of the sample was of 30.7 years, and most patients were white (57.9%), married (56.6%), and had had 8 or more years of schooling (72.3%). About 22.6% of the patients used medications to treat GDM, 30.8% had other comorbidities, and 76.7% attended the postnatal appointment. Attendance at the postpartum appointment, the use of medication, and the presence of comorbidities showed an association with the performance of the oral glucose tolerance test in the puerperium. Conclusion The prevalence of screening for DM six weeks postpartum is low in women previously diagnosed with GDM. Patients who attended the postpartum consultation, used medications to treat GDM, and had comorbidities were the most adherent to the puerperal screening. We need strategies to increase the rate of performance of this exam.