Gestational Diabetes and Your Heart Health

(RxWiki News) Having gestational diabetes during pregnancy could mean you’re at risk for other conditions in the future, according to a new study.

This new study found that women who had gestational diabetes during pregnancy faced a raised risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes later on. Because many countries are seeing increasing rates of gestational diabetes, this finding could have serious implications for women’s health, said the authors of this new study.

Gestational diabetes is similar to other forms of diabetes in that it affects how the body processes sugar (glucose). The condition leads to high blood sugar and can affect the health of both pregnant women and their unborn children.

These researchers identified more than 9,000 women who had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Compared to women who weren’t diagnosed with the condition, those with gestational diabetes were over 20 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later on. They were also more than two and a half times as likely to develop ischemic heart disease and two times as likely to develop high blood pressure.

Ask your doctor about how to reduce your risk for gestational diabetes, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

The women included in this study were in the United Kingdom, so the study findings may not necessarily apply to other groups.

This study was published in the journal PLOS Medicine.

The study authors disclosed no outside funding sources or potential conflicts of interest.