ABSTRACT
The medical literature on diabetic pregnancy was very limited. Pregnancy itself was no less frequent, but the outcome was affected by so many other major problems that the influence of a medical disorder of a chronic nature was both unrecognized and disregarded. In the preinsulin days, and for some time after, death of the mother during or soon after pregnancy from uncontrolled diabetes was the major risk. But maternal mortality was high for many reasons unrelated to diabetes, and retrospective analysis of data from England and Wales between 1850 and 1937 shows that poor interventional obstetric care with increased risk of puerperal sepsis was more important than social or economic deprivation. The collection of vital statistics first became available at varying times in the developed Western countries. The Scandinavian countries were first Sweden and Denmark, England and Wales followed, and then Russia; although the process was initiated in the United States in 1880, it did not become complete until 1933.
