Background: During pandemic period, a single fast glycemia value (≥ 92 mg/dl) performed within the recommended time windows for the risk level defined by the Italian guidelines, was considered an acceptable surrogate for GDM diagnosis following Italian Diabetes Association recomendations.
Methods: All pregnant women who performed an OGTT following Italian Guidelines from march 2020 to september 2021 and then delivered at our University Hospital were prospectively enrolled in this study. Primary outcome of the study was the number of women to whom was diagnosed GDM with only the fasting glucose value (≥ 92 mg/dl), following Italian Diabetes Societies recommendations for COVID 19 pandemic period. In the same time, the data of women who became diabetic following the criteria of WHO 1999 was collected too. Secondary outcome was the comparison of risk factors and clinical outcomes between women diagnosed with IADPSG criteria and those diagnosed with WHO ’99 criteria.
Results: The number of women with a diagnosis of GDM following Italian guidelines in the 18-month period considered was 161. Only 109 (67.7%) had a fast glucose value ≥ 92 mg/dl. No difference between IADPSG and WHO ’99 groups in relation to risk factors, with the exception for overweight and obesity, and clinical outcomes,
Conclusion: Recommendations of Italian Diabetes Societies for COVID 19 pandemic failed to recognize one third of GDM diagnosis.
CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, www.clinicaltrials.gov, NCT 05026840, August 30, 2021, 'retrospectively registered'.