[Changes in glucose metabolism during pregnancy: hospital experience]

The clinical heterogeneity of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is also evident during the gestational period and thus, pregnancy could be complicated by a previously diagnosed DM or by diabetes that is first diagnosed during pregnancy (gestational diabetes or gestational alteration of the oral glucose tolerance test according with the degree of hyperglycemia). Independently of the stage at time of maternal diagnosis, the conceptus is at greater risk (probably since the time of conception) for abortion, genetic malformations, perinatal metabolic complications and death; these risks are apparently directly related with the time at diagnosis, duration and degree of metabolic alteration on the mother (mainly hyperglycemia) and the adaptive mechanisms on the product (hyperinsulinemia). Retrospectively, 412 pregnancies complicated with any type of carbohydrate metabolism alteration were studied in our service. The results demonstrated a high frequency of Gestational diabetes (42.2%) and of type II diabetes (35.9%); there was a good agreement with previous reports regarding the personal and family histories in the patients already known diabetic before pregnancy. The types of obstetric complications were similar to previous reports, but some of them with a greater frequency in our patients, namely hydramnios, toxemia, and urinary tract infection, and ketoacidosis with a minor frequency. We also observed an increased frequency of congenital malformations on the products. On the other hand, the metabolic complications of the newborn were similar to other reports with a slight predominance on the babies of known diabetic mothers prior to gestation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)