Women & Infants Hospital recruits participants for gestational diabetes screening study

WOMEN & INFANTS HOSPITAL is taking part in a national study that seeks to improve gestational diabetes screening and diagnosis. / COURTESY WOMEN & INFANTS HOSPITAL

PROVIDENCE – Women & Infants Hospital is taking part in a new study aimed at better understanding the role that blood glucose levels plays during pregnancy.

The hospital is one of eight sites nationwide participating in the Glycemic Observation and Metabolic Outcomes in Mothers and Offspring study.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the GO MOMs study is seeking to enroll about 2,150 people.

Participants cannot have diabetes, must be in the first trimester of pregnancy and be willing to use a device that continuously monitors blood glucose levels for four separate 10-day stretches during their pregnancy.

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Researchers hope the study will lead to improvement in gestational diabetes screening and diagnosis, which is now done when a person is six to seven months into their pregnancy.

According to the results of prior studies, waiting that long to test for the condition could mean that affected parents and their babies may face a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity or impaired glucose metabolism years after pregnancy and birth.

“By the time people are currently screened for gestational diabetes, it could be too late to avoid the long-lasting health effects,” said Dr. William Lowe, professor of medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, and study chair for GO MOMs. “We hope to recruit a diverse group of GO MOMs participants to help pinpoint key changes during pregnancy and see if there are associations with a subsequent gestational diabetes diagnosis and large size at birth for the offspring.”

Elizabeth Graham is a PBN contributing writer.

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