Prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus and its determinants among pregnant women in Beijing

Abstract

Objective

To investigate the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and its determinants among pregnant women in the Tongzhou district of Beijing, China.

Methods

This study was performed on data collected in the routine work of the prenatal health care system from 27,119 pregnant women in the Tongzhou district of Beijing during 2013–2018. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to assess the factors associated with GDM.

Results

The overall prevalence of GDM was 24.24%, and it showed an increasing trend over the 6 years. A univariate analysis showed that the prevalence of GDM increased with age (p < .001). In multivariate analysis, it was found that women with a non-local household registration, as well as those without a local household registration but whose husbands had one, had a lower risk for GDM than both spouses who had local registration. Women who were overweight/obese had a higher risk for GDM than women with a normal pre-pregnancy body mass index. Multipara women had a lower likelihood of developing GDM.

Conclusions

We found a slightly higher prevalence of GDM in the Tongzhou district of Beijing than has been found in other studies, and the prevalence rose over the 6 years of the study. Advanced age, pre-pregnancy overweight or obesity, and local household registration were important risk factors for GDM. Multiparity may be a protective factor against developing GDM. Intensive health education on related determinants should be strengthened for the prevention and control of GDM, especially in high-risk women.

Keywords:

• Gestational diabetes mellitus
• prevalence
• determinants

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program, Ministry of Science and Technology, People’s Republic of China [Grant Nos. 2018YFC1004300 and 2018YFC1004301].