Diabetes in pregnancy 1985

The art of obstetrics is not a subject which is often discussed in the pages of Diabetologia. However, as the care of the diabetic mother and her offspring is rightly an interdisciplinary responsibility between obstetrician, diabetologist and neonatologist, it is important that each has a close understanding of the various problems. Dr. M.I. Drury (Dublin), speaking as an internist, raises a question on the optimum time and method of delivery of the baby; this has more than purely obstetrical implications. Drs. L. Mølsted-Pedersen (Copenhagen) and C. Kühl (Copenhagen and Klampenborg), obstetrician and internist from the longest-established joint obstetric/diabetic service in the world, present a Scandinavian view on the management of pregnancy. Both centres have distinguished records in the management of diabetic pregnancy. The different viewpoints in Denmark and in Ireland are clear - in Copenhagen, therapeutic abortion is practiced in a pregnancy at risk of severe congenital malformation; in Dublin it is not. Dr. Drury quotes a perinatal loss of 13 of 285 pregnancies (4.5%) in the past 5 years, but does not include the recognised spontaneous abortions which, on his overall figures, are about 10% of conceptions. Dr. Mølsted-Pedersen reports a perinatal loss of 3 of 201 infants (1.5%), excluding 17 spontaneous and 9 induced abortions. If these 9 aborted pregnancies, which were performed due to a risk of severe congenital malformation, were included as fatalities, the Copenhagen figure would be 12 of 210 (5.5%). Of course, we do not know if all those 9 fetuses were affected. The spontaneous abortion rate was 17 of 223 (8.0%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)