Risk Factors for Gestational Diabetes
When we talk about gestational diabetes mellitus and reasons that can lead to having it there are at least several risk factors that should be taken into consideration.
One of the strongest risk factors is genetics or heredity (call it whatever you like). If a woman has or had a first degree relative suffering from type 2 diabetes there is a high risk of getting gestational diabetes which can then turn into type 2 diabetes.
Believe it or not another strong risk factor is age, maternal age. The older woman is the higher risk of having gestational diabetes. So, there is a particular reason why all women are advised to born babies before they are 35.
One more important risk factor is body weight, or overweight to be more precise. The more over weight a woman has the more the risk to get gestational diabetes she is under. So, if you are overweight and your pregnancy is not spontaneous but planned, please try to get rid of your extra pounds to prevent this risk for you and for your future baby.
By the way, if it’s your second or third pregnancy and you had gestational diabetes during the previous one(s) you are certainly in a group of risk.
