Gestational diabetes seemingly affects at least seven percent of all pregnancies in the United States, with rates as high as 14 percent among certain populations. Scientists reveal that obese women who undergo bariatic surgical procedures before pregnancy were three times less likely to develop gestational diabetes (GDM) as compared to those who have bariatic operations post delivery.
The analysis also highlighted that delivery after bariatic procedures was linked with lessened odds of cesarean section which appears to be an outcome related with GDM. Its occurrence is augmenting among reproductive women, equivalent to rising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Presently, 33 percent of women over 19 years of age meet the conditions for obesity. Experts share that bariatic surgical procedures are the only involvement identified to develop sustained weight reduction among several subjects.
“The major finding of our study is that women who had bariatric surgery before they delivered reduced odds of gestational diabetes when compared with women had bariatric surgery after they delivered,” remarked Anne E. Burke, MD, MPH, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md.
Scientists conducted a retrospective analysis to evaluate rates of GDM and related outcomes between a group of women who had bariatic operations before pregnancy and a group who had bariatic operations after delivery between 2002 and 2006. Experts revealed that women who delivered after bariatic procedures had apparently low events of GDM and cesarean section as compared to those who delivered before bariatic procedures.
“Despite a growing body of evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of bariatric surgery in reversing obesity-related complications, few candidates for the procedure are referred to a surgeon to discuss their options,” quoted Martin Makary, MD, MPH, associate professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and senior author of the study.
Scientists observed that women who delivered post bariatic operations were older. The median time from surgical procedure to delivery was 19.6 months. This highlighted that the majority of women did not adhere to the current suggestions to defer pregnancy for around two years after bariatic procedures were conducted. Deliveries before bariatic operations occurred at a median time of 16.5 months, thereby highlighting that most women waited for more than a year after delivery before having bariatic procedures.
Most of the women had a bypass procedure. Women who had a prebariatric delivery were seemingly more likely to have an adjustable banding procedure than women with a postbariatric delivery.
These findings were published in the August issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.