Abstract
The relationship between pregnancy-induced hypertension (and pre-eclampsia) and gestational glucose intolerance was examined prospectively in 81 women with gestational diabetes mellitus. A borderline group consisted of 203 women with a single abnormal value on an oral glucose tolerance test. Controls consisted of 327 healthy women with normal glucose tolerance test at 28–32 weeks of gestation. The women with gestational diabetes were older (p > 0.01) and their prepregnancy weight and body mass index were higher (p > 0.001) than those in the control group. Also the women in the borderline group had higher prepregnancy weight (p > 0.01) and body mass index (p > 0.001) than the women in the control group. However, the pregnancy weight gain was lower in the gestational diabetics than in the control women (p > 0.001). Birth weight, birth trauma, low Apgar scores and hypoglycemia did not differ between the groups. However, hyperbilirubinemia occurred more frequently (28.4% vs. 3.7%, p > 0.001) in the gestational diabetics than in the controls. The frequency of both chronic hypertension (2.5% vs. 0.3%, p > 0.05) and pregnancy induced hypertension and pre-eclampsia (19.8% vs. 6.1%, p > 0.001) were higher in the gestational diabetes group, but not in the borderline group when compared with the controls.