Glucose challenge testing in pregnancy

This study examines results of routine glucose challenge screening in 608 third-trimester patients in a private practice setting. Four patient categories were defined on the basis of the results: normal, abnormal screen with normal glucose tolerance test, borderline glucose tolerance test, and gestational diabetes. When only standard prenatal management practices were used, the fetal outcomes in the four groups were not measurably different. The costs of these procedures resulted in an expenditure of $722.31 per diagnosis of gestational diabetes. This seems excessive in view of the negligible impact of these studies on fetal outcome. Our impression was that routine third-trimester dietary counseling, postprandial glucose monitoring without challenge testing, and evaluation of cases of suspected fetal macrosomia would result in comparable outcome at significantly reduced cost.