Change in the number of patients after the adoption of IADPSG criteria for hyperglycemia during pregnancy in Japanese women

Aims: To assess how the number of Japanese pregnant women with hyperglycemia changes after the adoption of the criteria proposed by the IADPSG.

Methods: The study subjects comprised 228 Japanese women with a plasma glucose level ≥ 7.8 mmol/L on a glucose challenge test and who subsequently underwent a glucose tolerance test among 1038 women with singleton pregnancies. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is currently diagnosed using the JSOG criteria in Japan.

Results: Of the 228 women, all 25 women with GDM and an additional 43 women without GDM according to the JSOG criteria were classified as having hyperglycemia according to the IADPSG criteria, resulting in an increase of patients with hyperglycemia from 2.4% (25/1038) to 6.6% (68/1038). The number of infants with a birthweight ≥ 3600g was significantly larger among the 43 women with newly diagnosed GDM than among the 160 women who remained normoglycemic (14% [6/43] vs. 3.8% [6/160], p = 0.02). The calculated number of patients requiring treatment for a reduction of one infant with a birthweight ≥ 3600 g was at least 9.8 for women with newly diagnosed GDM.

Conclusion: The IADPSG criteria increase the number of patients by at least 2.7-fold but may be cost-effective with respect to the resulting reduction in macrosomia.