Diabetes Mellitus Among Canadian Indian Women Delivering Heavy-for-Date Newborns

Canadian Indian women who delivered heavy-for-date newborns were studied to see whether they were more likely to be diabetic than were similar women who delivered normal birth-weight newborns. These women delivered newborns at the Sioux Lookout Zone Hospital between January 1, 1969 and December 31, 1972. The delivery of a heavy-for-date newborn was used as an indicator for gestational diabetes. Obstetric difficulties in pairs of women, and congenital anomalies and physiologic jaundice in pairs of newborns were also compared. The study results are discussed within the context of formulating a policy to screen this population of Indians for gestational diabetes.