Barriers to Postpartum Glucose Intolerance Screening in an Italian Population

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 15; no. 12; p. 2853
• Main Authors: Quaresima, Paola, Visconti, Federica, Chiefari, Eusebio, Puccio, Luigi, Foti, Daniela P, Venturella, Roberta, Vero, Raffaella, Brunetti, Antonio, Di Carlo, Costantino
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 14.12.2018; MDPI
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Compliance; Counseling; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent); Glucose; Glucose tolerance; Gynecology; Health care; Insulin; Interviews; Intolerance; Investigations; Polycystic ovary syndrome; Population; Postpartum; Pregnancy; Primary care; Research design; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Womens health; Italy; type 2 diabetes mellitus; ppOGTT; gestational diabetes mellitus
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph15122853

: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a strong risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and the postpartum period is crucial for early treatment in at-risk women. However, despite recommendations, only a fraction of women undergo a postpartum screening for glucose intolerance (ppOGTT). The present study aims to verify the reason(s) for poor adherence in our population. : This retrospective study includes 451 women in which GDM was diagnosed between 2015⁻2016. During 2017, we verified by phone interview how many women underwent ppOGTT at 6⁻12 weeks postpartum, as recommended by the Italian guidelines. The non-compliant women were asked about the reason(s) for failing to screen. The non-parametric Mann-Whitney test and the 2-tailed Fisher exact test were used to compare continuous and categorical features, respectively, among women performing or non-performing ppOGTT. : Out of 451 women with GDM diagnosis, we recorded information from 327. Only 97 (29.7%) performed ppOGTT. The remaining 230 women (70.3%) provided the following explanation for : (1) newborn care (30.4%); (2) misunderstood importance (28.3%); (3) oversight (13.0%); (4) unavailability of test reservation in the nearest centers (10.4%); (5) normal glycemic values at delivery (8.3%); (6) discouragement by primary care physician (5.6%). : In our population, most women with recent GDM failed to perform ppOGTT. Our results indicated that the prominent barriers could potentially be overcome.