Oral Contraceptives in Women with Previous Gestational Diabetes: Influence on Glucose Metabolism

Abstract

One of the earliest described metabolic effects following intake of oral contraceptives was that upon glucose tolerance (Waine etal., 1963; Wynn, 1966). Today a considerable amount of evidence substantiates that traditional brands of oral contraceptives with 50 ug estrogen or more and high pro-gestational content decrease glucose tolerance and cause a rise in plasma insulin levels (Kalkhoff, 1975; Spellacy, 1976). Despite these findings no increased risk of developing clinical diabetes has been found in epidemiological studies (Wingrave etal., 1979).