Gestational diabetes mellitus not tied to increased all-cause mortality

A recent prospective cohort study investigated the potential link between the gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and long-term mortality. The major highlights of this study were published in the BMC Cardiovascular Diabetology.

This study was conducted from October 2022 to April 2023 and involved a total of 10,327 women with a pregnancy history to discern whether GDM, without subsequent overt diabetes, had any significant association with all-cause and cardiac mortality. The findings revealed critical insights into the health outcomes of women with a history of GDM. 5.3% of the participants had GDM alone, while 14.1% had overt diabetes. 758 deaths were recorded over a median follow-up period of 6.7 years.

This crucial findings of this study uncovered that GDM alone did not increase the risk of either all-cause or cardiac mortality. The participants in the GDM group showed comparable mortality rates to those without diabetes. Also, the group with overt diabetes faced a significantly higher risk of both all-cause and cardiac mortality when compared to their counterparts without diabetes.

The sensitivity analysis focused on women aged 50 or above and reinforced these findings. Among this subgroup, a history of GDM did not show any association with increased mortality risks. Overt diabetes remained significantly linked to heightened all-cause and cardiac mortality rates.

These findings challenge previous assumptions regarding the long-term health implications of gestational diabetes. While overt diabetes poses substantial risks, this research suggests that GDM alone may not contribute to the heightened mortality rates. These insights underscore the importance of distinguishing between different forms of diabetes and their respective impacts on long-term health outcomes.

Source: 

Ying, Q., Xu, Y., Zhang, Z., Cai, L., Zhao, Y., & Jin, L. (2024). Gestational diabetes mellitus and risk of long-term all-cause and cardiac mortality: a prospective cohort study. In Cardiovascular Diabetology (Vol. 23, Issue 1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12933-024-02131-3