[Pregnant diabetic patients: institutional experience]

Diabetes mellitus complicates 3-5% of all pregnancies and is a major cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. The diet and insulin have revolutionized the care related with pregnancy complicated by diabetes mellitus.

To report the management experience in patients with diabetes and pregnancy at the Instituto Materno Infantil, Estado de Mexico.

A descriptive, retrospective, observational and cross-sectional study of pregnant women with diabetes and pregnancy was conducted from 2003 to 2004.

We included 55 pregnant women who had: gestational diabetes 30 (54.4%), pregestational diabetes 24 (43.6%), and carbohydrate intolerance 1 (1.8%); every one of them were controlled either with diet, insulin or both. The mean age was 30.6, 80% with family history of type 2 diabetes mellitus, 9% gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes was diagnosed in 33.3% by abnormal 50 g glucose screening and 46.6% with oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The main complications among the patients were urinary disease (61.3%) and the major fetal malformation were those related with cardiovascular disease (9.09%). The most frequent mode of delivery was cesarean section (58%) and birth weight was of 3,146 g.

The main risk factors identified among women in the study group were as follow: More than 25 years of age and family history of diabetes mellitus. We observed a progressive increase in the insulin dosage. The most consistent complications among the patients were urinary infection and the major fetal malformation was cardiovascular disease.