The Need for Personalized Risk-Stratified Approaches to Treatment for Gestational Diabetes: A Narrative Review

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is common and is associated with an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, the prevailing one-size-fits-all approach that treats all women with GDM as having equivalent risk needs revision, given the clinical heterogeneity of GDM, the limitations of a population-based approach to risk, and the need to move beyond a glucocentric focus to address other intersecting risk factors. To address these challenges, we propose using a clinical prediction model for adverse pregnancy outcomes to guide risk-stratified approaches to treatment tailored to the individual needs of women with GDM. This will allow preventative and therapeutic interventions to be delivered to those who will maximally benefit, sparing expense, and harm for those at a lower risk.