IS PREGNANCY DIABETOGENIC?

Abstract

It has been shown that pregnancy often worsens known increases the insulin requirement in juvenile type and may produce a state of temporary diabetes in women who were previously considered normal. That in these apparently normal women pregnancy has uncovered a latent or prediabetic state is illustrated in a case history. This patient developed a severe diabetic ketosis during her 1st pregnancy. Between pregnancies her glucose tolerance curve was normal but the added stress of 50 mg of cortisone administered twice revealed the latent status. Each subsequent pregnancy reaffirmed her basic diabetic defect. Finally subsequent to a breast abscess she became permanently diabetic requiring a large daily dose of insulin. Vascular disorders of retinopathy and neuropathy have also been observed to start or become worse during pregnancy. An increasing incidence of with increasing parity has been recorded but only with parity over 6 (p = .01). Parity was not related to the incidence or severity of retinopathy. It has been suggested that the prediabetic woman may be more fertile than average. Pregnancy has been shown to cause no lasting diabetogenic effect.