Gestational diabetes mellitus identification based on self-monitoring of blood glucose.

In Sherbrooke, the gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) Regional Committee proposed GDM screening during the first trimester for all pregnant women based on a 50 g glucose challenge test (50 g GCT) followed directly by capillary self-monitoring blood glucose (SMBG) at home. We evaluated implementation of committee's recommendations on the clinical trajectory of women receiving prenatal care at our institution. We analyzed data collected systematically by the Blood Sampling in Pregnancy clinic from 2008 to 2011. We evaluated the clinical trajectory of 7710 pregnant women to assess GDM screening/diagnoses and referral rates to the diabetes care centre (DCC) for education and treatment during both the first and second trimesters. The Canadian Diabetes Association glycemic treatment targets in women with GDM were used as diagnosis thresholds and DCC referral decisions: Fasting glucose of 5.3 mmol/L and postprandial 2 h glucose of 6.7 mmol/L. We found that pregnant women were 28.0±4.8 years old, and their body mass indexes were 24.5±5.5 kg/m(2). During the first trimester, 47% of women were screened for GDM, mostly (84%) using the 50 g GCT. Following SMBG, 5.7% were referred to the DCC. Only 32% of women with early GDM had >1 GDM risk factor. Thereafter, 67% of normoglycemic women screened during the first trimester were screened again during the second trimester. Among women screened during the second trimester, most screening was done using 50 g GCT, and 8.8% were referred to the DCC following SMBG. Implementation of 50 g GCT testing followed by direct home SMBG was well implemented in our area. The importance of early GDM screening and rescreening during the second trimester still needs to be emphasized.