Study Finds Casual Blood Glucose Test Misses 70 Percent of Gestational Diabetes Cases
A study conducted at Kobe University reveals that 70% of the cases go unnoticed when casual blood sugar levels were measured to evaluate gestational diabetes. The authors suggest that a more reliable test like Glucose tolerance test should be used for screening the same.
The results, published in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation, showed that out of the 99 women who in the end were diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus, 71.7% had blood sugar levels in their first blood sample that would have resulted in a negative (no diabetes) diagnosis. Tomimoto explains, “Although there have been studies showing that the casual blood glucose test is less sensitive than others, no studies have directly compared the results in the same individuals. Our study confirmed that this screening method, which is widely used in practice, frequently misses the condition it is meant to detect.”
To see how widespread this issue is, the team also conducted a survey amongst healthcare facilities in Hyogo Prefecture, where Kobe University is based. They found that 43% of the respondents who used blood glucose tests relied only on the casual screening. “In Japan, where about half of all deliveries take place in obstetric clinics rather than in hospitals, the more accurate but complicated and time-consuming tests are not widely used,” says TOMIMOTO Masako, graduate student at Kobe University. However, this is not a problem unique to Japan, as similar surveys showed that in the UK, 48% of clinics also rely on only the casual blood glucose test for the first screening.
Kobe University obstetrician TANIMURA Kenji says about the implications of their study: “We would like to educate healthcare professionals and patients about this danger and encourage them to promote the use of the more accurate glucose tolerance screening method. We hope that our data can contribute to improvements in the management system and to the revision of the guidelines for gestational diabetes mellitus screenings. The goal is to protect more mothers and babies from gestational and childbirth issues caused by this form of diabetes, and in general reduce the risk of developing the disease in the future.”
Reference: Tomimoto, M., Tanimura, K., Masuko, N., Uchida, A., Imafuku, H., Deguchi, M., Yamamoto, A., Hirota, Y., Ogawa, W., & Terai, Y. (2024). Problems in screening for gestational diabetes mellitus by measurement of casual blood glucose levels at 24–28 gestational weeks. Journal of Diabetes Investigation. https://doi.org/10.1111/jdi.14310
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