What are the Symptoms of Gestational Diabetes?

Well, the problem is that pregnant women with GDM usually have no symptoms. Typically a medical student would be taught that the symptoms of diabetes are polydipsia and polyuria that is thirst and passing a lot of urine. In fact, in pregnancy because of the weight of the pregnant abdomen on top of the bladder, many pregnant women have urinary frequency anyway and thirst is strangely not common. So these signs and symptoms are not adequate predictors that someone has gestational diabetes.

Screening for GDM must be universal.

In the past, screening for diabetes was restricted to those women who had high-risk factors but this was unsatisfactory. If my recollection is correct, 60% of patients with gestational diabetes were being missed by screening only on the basis of high risk factors.

These high risk factors included women who were older, women who have had big babies in the past, and if they had pregnancy complications related to the size of the baby and also placental problems. Screening based on high risk factors was ineffective and now all pregnant women are tested at 26 – 28 weeks gestation. The principle is clearly to test everyone, identify those with GDM and start monitoring and treatment. This will significantly reduce risks.