Effect of abnormal glucose tolerance in pregnancy on infant mortality rate and morbidity. A prospective study.

Ninety-five pregnant women, not previously known to have diabetes but suspected of being at risk for the disease because of obesity, glycosuria, family history, or obstetric history, underwent oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests in the last trimester of pregnancy. Several methods were used to categorize the degree of abnormality, but none was of value in predicting pregnancy outcome. Perinatal mortality and malformation rates in the offspring of these women were no greater than those of the over-all infant population at this Center and were much lower than those in infants born to women with overt diabetes. Causes of infant morbidity were not increased, with the exception of overweight babies, hypoglycemia, and hypocalcemia. Umbilical vein glucose level correlated significantly with the mothers' blood glucose at the time of delivery. Cord insulin level correlated with infant birth weight and with University Group Diabetes Program number. Birth weight correlated with the degree of the mothers' obesity. It was concluded the documentation of the degree of glucose intolerance in the mother is of little value in predicting fetal outcome but may indicate infants at risk for hypoglycemia and hypocalcemia.