Five year audit of peripartum blood glucose control in type 1 diabetic patients

An audit was conducted of the degree of blood glucose control achieved during labour using a simple glucose/insulin infusion regimen. Records were examined of 40 pregnancies in 37 women over a 5-year period. Mean blood glucose was 5.2 +/- 2.2 (SD) mmol-1 7 h before delivery and 4.7 +/- 1.8 mmol-1 1 h before delivery. Four women experienced mild symptomatic hypoglycaemia before delivery and two during the 6 h after delivery. Seven neonates had blood glucose levels of 2.2 mmol-1 or less recorded at any time, but there was no relationship between neonatal hypoglycaemia and maternal hyperglycaemia during labour in the range of achieved maternal blood glucose levels. The mean HbA1 at booking was 8.4 +/- 1.2% (non-diabetic range 5.0-7.5%) and fell to a steady plateau from 12 weeks gestation to delivery averaging 7.5% (2SD above the non-diabetic mean). These data demonstrate the practical applicability of a simple regimen for control of blood glucose during labour in insulin-dependent diabetic women and suggest that less stringent aims of blood glucose control than originally adopted may be appropriate.