Health Monitoring Sugar Levels In Pregnancy Helps Manage Diabetes

Posted on: Mon 02-10-2017

For women with type 1 diabetes, monitoring blood sugar levels continuously during pregnancy via an implanted device helps better manage the disease, and improves birth outcomes compared to traditional finger-prick tests, according to a new randomised trial published in The Lancet and presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) conference.

One in two newborns of women with type 1 diabetes may face complications as a result of being exposed to maternal high blood sugar levels, and there has been limited progress, with these birth outcomes not improving in the past 3-4 decades.

All range for blood sugar levels and spent less time with high blood sugar levels.

Importantly, birth outcomes improved for those using continuous glucose monitoring, reducing the number of babies being born larger than average the number of babies admitted to intensive care for more than 24 hours and the number of babies born with low blood sugar levels.

On average, babies whose mothers had used the continuous glucose monitoring device also left hospital one day earlier than babies whose mothers used traditional monitoring.

“For a long time there has been limited progress in improving birth outcomes for women with type 1 diabetes, so we’re pleased that our study offers a new option to help pregnant women with diabetes and their children,” says author Dr Denice Feig, University of Toronto and Sinai Health System, Canada.

“Keeping blood sugar levels within the normal range during pregnancy for women with type 1 diabetes is crucial to reduce risks for the mother and child. However, with traditional monitoring, this can be difficult as sensitivity to insulin fluctuates throughout pregnancy, meaning that accurately adjusting insulin doses is complex. As a result of our findings, we believe that this type of monitoring should be offered to all pregnant women with type 1 diabetes.”

By: Unini Ebuka

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