Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that affects pregnant women and is a totally separate form of diabetes than the other two types, commonly referred to as Type I or Type II. It is estimated that around 18 percent of women will develop gestational diabetes at some point during their pregnancy, making it one of the more common pregnancy-related conditions experienced by expecting mothers.
In a nutshell, gestational diabetes is the name of the condition where a mother has too much sugar in her bloodstream. This is the result of the body’s failure to produce enough insulin. According to one recent news article, a new study looks at two common ways to treat gestational diabetes, insulin and glyburide.
As noted above, insulin is the hormone that is responsible for breaking down sugars and converting them into energy. A direct dose of insulin has long been one alternative to treating diabetes. However, more recently doctors have been prescribing glyburide to patients with gestational diabetes. The study takes a look at both medications and ultimately concludes that treatment by glyburide may result in a higher risk of required admission into the intensive care unit, a larger chance of the mother developing respiratory stress, and also a greater risk that the mother will be large for gestational age.