The association between an oral glucose tolerance test performed at term pregnancy and obstetric outcomes

Oren Barak; Israel Yoles; Tamar Wainstock; Noa Gadassi; Tal Schiller; Edi Vaisbuch

doi:10.1177/1753495X211055634

The association between an oral glucose tolerance test performed at term pregnancy and obstetric outcomes

Obstet Med. 2022 Sep;15(3):185-189. doi: 10.1177/1753495X211055634. Epub 2021 Nov 11.

Authors

Oren Barak^{1

2}, Israel Yoles³, Tamar Wainstock⁴, Noa Gadassi^{2

5}, Tal Schiller^{2

6}, Edi Vaisbuch^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaplan Medical Center, Israel.
² Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jeruslem, Israel.
³ Clalit Health Services, the Central District, Israel.
⁴ School of Public Health, Ben Gurion University, Israel.
⁵ Department of Neonatology, Kaplan Medical Center, Israel.
⁶ Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kaplan Medical Center, Israel.

Abstract

Aims: Assessing the value of oral glucose tolerance test performed at term pregnancy in identifying obstetric complications.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of women with a normal 50 g glucose challenge test who also had an oral glucose tolerance test at term (defined as at or after 37 weeks of gestation). Comparison between the pathological and normal oral glucose tolerance test groups was performed.

Results: The mean glucose in the glucose challenge test of women in the normal oral glucose tolerance test (n = 256) group was lower than that in the pathological oral glucose tolerance test (N = 16) group (105 ± 17 mg/dl (5.8 ± 0.9 mmol/l) vs 117 ± 13 mg/dl (6.5 ± 0.7 mmol/l), p = 0.007). Relevant obstetrical complications did not differ significantly between the groups. Of note, in the pathological oral glucose tolerance test group only one woman delivered a macrosomic infant.

Conclusions: A pathological oral glucose tolerance test performed at term was unable to identify women at risk for impaired glucose metabolism-related obstetric complications and is therefore of limited clinical value and seems to be unjustified.

Keywords: Diabetes; gestational; impaired glucose metabolism; macrosomia; oral glucose tolerance test.