Prediction and Prevention of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Its Sequelae by Administering Metformin in the Early Weeks of Pregnancy

V Seshiah; S C Bronson; V Balaji; R Jain; C Anjalakshi

doi:10.7759/cureus.31532

Prediction and Prevention of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Its Sequelae by Administering Metformin in the Early Weeks of Pregnancy

Cureus. 2022 Nov 15;14(11):e31532. doi: 10.7759/cureus.31532. eCollection 2022 Nov.

Authors

V Seshiah¹, S C Bronson², V Balaji³, R Jain⁴, C Anjalakshi⁵

Affiliations

¹ Diabetology, The Tamil Nadu Dr. Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (MGR) Medical University, Chennai, IND.
² Diabetology, Institute of Diabetology - Centre of Excellence, Stanley Medical College and Hospital, Chennai, IND.
³ Diabetology, Dr. V. Balaji Diabetes Care Centre and Research Institute, Chennai, IND.
⁴ Public Health, Jain Hospital, Kanpur, IND.
⁵ Obstetrics and Gynecology, Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Madras Medical College, Chennai, IND.

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus in recent years has become a relentlessly evolving pandemic. Measures for the screening and early detection of diabetes are practiced all around the world. However, considering the ever-increasing magnitude of the problem, the present efforts should especially focus on the primordial prevention of diabetes. A ray of hope for preventing the development of diabetes in an individual arises from the concept that many adult-onset diseases have already been programmed while the individual was still in-utero. In women with hyperglycemia-in-pregnancy, maternal hyperglycemia results in fetal hyperinsulinemia, which leads to increased adiposity in the fetus, and insulin resistance and diabetes in adulthood. We have ventured to point out that the fetal beta-cells start secreting insulin at 10-11 weeks of pregnancy and fetal hyperinsulinemia persists with maternal hyperglycemia, in a pregnant woman who would develop gestational diabetes. Considering the fetal glucose-steal phenomenon and the fetal renal threshold for glucose, we have suggested a two-hour post-prandial blood-glucose (PPBG) value of >110 mg/dL as the cut-off for the prediction of gestational diabetes in the early weeks of pregnancy. Furthermore, we have emphasized the use of metformin in addition to medical nutrition therapy in the early weeks to maintain PPBG around 110 mg/dL to prevent gestational diabetes. In this paper, we recommend early, universal screening of all pregnant women during the early weeks of the first trimester and put forward that a two-hour PPBG of >110 mg/dl during the 8^th-10^th week of pregnancy would predict the risk of gestational diabetes in the pregnant woman. We suggest early testing and intervention to prevent the development of fetal hyperinsulinemia as a primordial prevention approach for diabetes.

Keywords: diabetes type 2; early screening; fetal glucose steal; fetal hyperinsulinemia; fetal islet cell; gdm- gestational diabetes mellitus; non-communicable diseases; primordial prevention; transgenerational transmission.