ABSTRACT
Most women will demonstrate glycosuria at some time during their pregnancy owing to a fall in the renal tubular threshold for glucose. There are three main types of diabetes in pregnancy: pre-existing type 1 diabetes; pre-existing type 2 diabetes; and gestational diabetes, which is hyperglycaemia first recognised in pregnancy. In European women, the incidence of diabetic pregnancy is relatively low but this depends on the local prevalence of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in women of child-bearing age. Pregnancy in a diabetic mother carries a greater risk to both mother and the offspring than pregnancy in the general obstetric population. Physiologically, normal pregnancy is associated with an increase in maternal insulin production and insulin resistance. Pregnant women should be managed in a joint pregnancy/diabetic clinic by obstetricians and physicians with expertise in the care of such women.
