Diabetes In Pregnancy Ecab

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is classically seen in about 5–8% of the pregnant women. The condition appears to be caused by the same broad spectrum of physiological and genetic peculiarities that characterize diabetes outside of pregnancy. These women with GDM are also otherwise at high risk of having or developing diabetes even when not pregnant. The controversies regarding the diagnosis, management, and prevention of diabetes in pregnancy pose specific problems in clinical practice such as how to clinch the diagnosis, when to introduce therapy, what therapy to introduce, and how to predict the future course of the condition. This book is designed to address such questions with supportive typical clinical scenarios, with which all readers will be able to identify. Thus it provides an excellent opportunity to widen one’s perspective in this area.

The management of medical disorders in pregnancy has undergone significant changes in the recent years. The pattern of disease has changed with improvements in socio-economic conditions. For example, the incidence of antenatal anemia has decreased progressively in the past few decades, and pulmonary tuberculosis (which used to be prevalent) is now seen only rarely. Chronic rheumatic heart disease has also become less common. On the other hand, gestational diabetes has become more common. This may be due partly to the setting up of screening services for gestational diabetes in many hospitals. The four most common medical disorders complicating pregnancy are anemia, diabetes mellitus, cardiac disease, and thyroid disorders. In addition, because of the improvements in the medical, obstetric, and anesthetic management of pregnancy, many women with medical disorders can go through a pregnancy without major problems. There has also been a progressive decrease in the perinatal mortality associated with some medical disorders, such as diabetes. It is important for all healthcare professionals involved in the management of pregnant women with medical disorders to be conversant with the latest developments in order to provide the best care to these women. The chapters in this issue are certainly helpful in this respect. The eminent authors for the various chapters have discussed the various options available describing in detail their experiences regarding the various aspects of the condition.

Decision making in instituting insulin therapy is an important aspect of diabetes management. The appropriate insulin regimen for an individual patient should take into account the patient’s lifestyle, age, motivation, general health, self-management skills, and treatment goals. In addition, a discussion of the newer insulins versus older insulin is a much desired topic in the Indian context. Another area of interest is the insulin delivery mechanism in the intensive care units in hospital settings. This CME module is designed to address such questions with supportive typical clinical scenarios, with which all readers will be able to identify. Thus it provides an excellent opportunity to widen one’s perspective in this area.

The pathogenesis of microvascular complications is complex and multifactorial. Yet, hyperglycemia emerges as the most important single cause, which has been proved by the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT). Thus, the importance of protecting the body from hyperglycemia cannot be overstated; the direct and indirect effects on the human vascular tree are the major source of morbidity and mortality in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Generally, the injurious effects of hyperglycemia are separated into macrovascular complications (coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, and stroke) and microvascular complications (diabetic nephropathy, neuropathy, and retinopathy). It is important for physicians to understand the relationship between diabetes and vascular disease because the prevalence of diabetes continues to increase in our country, and the clinical requirements for primary and secondary prevention of these complications are also expanding.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with a greater risk of developing atherosclerotic macrovascular diseases like myocardial infarction, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. There is 2- to 4-fold increased risk of atherosclerotic heart disease and stroke in diabetic patients compared to non-diabetic patients. As the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing rapidly, this diabetes related atherosclerotic disease is predicted to be a major public health problem. Atherosclerosis is a complex process and in diabetic patients, it behaves differently with increased lesion progression and severity. This accelerated atherosclerotic process in diabetics is explained on the basis of several risk factors like hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, accelerated formation of advanced glycation end products, increased oxidative stress, and genetic factors. It is difficult to establish precisely the elements responsible for this atherosclerosis in diabetics, but by epidemiological, clinical, and by animal studies, it has been possible to get an idea of this problem in diabetics. Of the several risk factors for atherosclerosis in diabetes, dyslipidemia is the leading one, and an insight into the pathophysiologic relation of isolated triglyceridemia in Indian diabetics with the identification of the targets for control of lipids in diabetes (practical vs. ideal) needs to be well understood by the treating physician. This book is designed to address such issues with supportive typical clinical scenarios, with which the readers will be able to identify. Thus, it provides an excellent opportunity to widen one’s perspective in this area.

Diet plays an important role in the treatment of diabetes, alone or in combination with insulin or oral hypoglycemic drugs. The diabetic nutrition plan of an individual necessitates to be based upon, excepting the usual parameters, his/her socioeconomic status, ethnicity/religion, and local food habits. It is important that diet plan is individualized and also region based. Since there are a number of artificial sweeteners available now, it is necessary that physicians should take in account scientific data while prescribing any artificial sweetener. This issue in the ECAB Update Series: Diabetology reviews these issues in accordance with the Indian Dietary habits and available evidence to support the clinical decisions.

Of all lower extremity amputations, 40–70% are related to diabetes. In most studies, the incidence of lower leg amputation is estimated to be 5–25/100,000 inhabitants/year: among people with diabetes the number is 6–8/1,000. Lower extremity amputations are usually preceded by a foot ulcer in people with diabetes. The most important factors related to the development of these ulcers are peripheral neuropathy, foot deformities, minor foot trauma, and peripheral vascular disease. The spectrum of foot lesions varies in different regions of the world due to differences in socioeconomic conditions, standards of foot care and quality of footwear. This clinical update is designed to address this condition in a comprehensive way to help the reader take important questions while managing the patient with supportive typical clinical scenarios, with which all readers will be able to identify. Thus it provides an excellent opportunity to widen one’s perspective in this area.

Perinatal medicine encompasses various current topics in fetal diagnosis and management, besides preconception counseling. The concept of preconception counseling and healthcare evaluation optimizes a couple’s readiness for childbearing. This helps to minimize any foreseeable adverse factors through a careful diagnostic review and provision of appropriate intervention and therapy in advance. This has been dealt with in detail. The section on etiology and management aspects of Intrauterine Growth Retardation (IUGR) covers investigation and management of suspected or known fetal abnormalities, placental failure, and fetal growth retardation. Prenatal diagnostic procedures had limited access and safety so far, but this is a thing of the past today, especially after the advent of real-time ultrasonography. It brings an increasingly clearer visualization of the intrauterine space and has vastly broadened the scope for fetal diagnosis and treatment. The currently available ultrasound-guided procedures for fetal diagnosis and therapy are discussed at length in the chapter invasive ultrasound procedures. The discussed invasive ultrasound procedures include amniocentesis, cordocentesis, and chorionic villus sampling, done to detect neural tube defects, fetal lung maturity, and chromosomal abnormalities. The controversies surrounding the evaluation of fetal anomalies by ultrasound procedures are covered at length which we expect would be of special interest to the readers. Opinions abound as well as differ on the interpretation of the findings and counseling of couples, based on the same. This section focuses on the implications of missed fetal anomalies in this background and its impact on pregnancy outcome.