Gestational Diabetes Burden in South Carolina

Objective: To estimate the burden of gestational diabetes

Methods: We have used the historical birth files to examine trends in gestational diabetes. We also used the hospital discharges to estimate the incidence and utilized the BRFSS to estimate the prevalence of gestational diabetes.

Results: Annually between 3% and 8% of all pregnancies in the US are to mothers with gestational diabetes. Between 2004 and 2005, the gestational diabetes in South Carolina (SC) jumped by 43% from 2,169 to 3,097 births. During the same period, the rate of overweight or obesity did increase but only by 1.6%. The jump in the incidence could be explained partly due to the pre-pregnancy diabetes status of the birthing mothers. The rate of gestational diabetes based on the data from the newly revised birth certificates was 4.6%. This rate has been on the rise for the past decade or so. The most recent data indicates it has not changed but the pre-pregnancy rate has increased. Annually more than $400 million has been charged for hospitalization of a diabetes patient at the average visit charge of $16,000. We plan on using the 2004 -2006 data sets with 176,272 births to test the hypothesis that the Pre-pregnancy weight plays a strong role in predicting gestation diabetes status of birthing mother.

Conclusion: The incidence and prevalence of gestational diabetes has been on the rise. This alarming rate increase should receive special attention from diabetes control and prevention program.