Editorial

It is with great pleasure that we offer in this issue the selected peer reviewed proceedings from the 12th national meeting of the Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group of North America (DPSGNA) held in April 2011 in Washington DC. For more than a decade, this group of internationally renowned medical scientists and researchers regularly brought to us the latest advances in the science and practice of managing diabetes in pregnancy, and the Journal had the privilege of publishing selected manuscripts from several past proceedings of the Group [1–5]. In addition, our readers highly appreciated these publications because of their timeliness, practical utility and scientific merit.

This volume should be no exception because diabetes during pregnancy, pregestational and gestational, continues to offer an ever increasing challenge to maternal, fetal and neonatal well-being. The most recent estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that 26 million Americans had diabetes in 2010. In contrast, 23.6 million Americans had diabetes in 2008 [6]. The data related to women are equally disturbing. Diabetes affects 12.6 million or 10.8% of women 20 years or older and 215,000 of women under 20 years. The situation is further aggravated by the epidemic rise in obesity in the United States, with approximately 25% of women in their reproductive years considered obese [7]. This translates into a higher risk of developing diabetes and other chronic diseases. According to the CDC estimation, gestational diabetes affects 2 to 10% of pregnancies and of these 5 to 10% will be diagnosed with diabetes, mostly type 2, during the postpartum period [6]. Needless to say diabetes in pregnancy has become even a greater issue in obstetrics. By bringing the known authorities in the field to a single scientific forum, the DPSGNA has rendered a seminal service to our profession and we are very proud to be a part of this initiative.

This issue of the Journal is especially important as Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, the Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Maryland and an editor of this journal has admirably dedicated this collection of papers to Oded Langer, MD, PhD, who is the Babcock Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York. Dr. Langer’s contribution in advancing maternal fetal care is immeasurable. I have had the privilege and honor to know him as an esteemed colleague and a close personal friend for many years. I am sure that that we shall continue to benefit from his intellectual brilliance, professional wisdom and scientific enterprise for years to come.