Planned birth at or near term for improving health outcomes for pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes and their infants

  • Home / Planned birth at or near term for improving health outcomes for pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes and their infants

Planned birth at or near term for improving health outcomes for pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes and their infants

New
Authors: 
Biesty LM, Egan AM, Dunne F, Smith V, Meskell P, Dempsey E, Ni Bhuinneain G, Devane D

What is the issue?

The aim of this Cochrane review was to find out if planning an elective birth at or near the term of pregnancy, compared to waiting for labour to start spontaneously, has an impact on the health of women with diabetes and the health of their babies. This review focuses on women who have diabetes before becoming pregnant (pre-existing diabetes). Elective birth is carried out either by induction of labour or caesarean section, and ‘at or near term’ means 37 to 40 weeks’ gestation.

To answer this question, we searched for all relevant studies (date of search: 15 August 2017), with the aim of collecting and analysing them together.

Why is this important?

When women with diabetes (Type 1 or Type 2) become pregnant they are at higher risk of complications than women who do not have diabetes. For example, their babies may be larger and have a higher risk of death in the later weeks of pregnancy. Because of these risks, many clinicians have recommended that women with diabetes have an elective birth (usually by induction) at or near term (37 to 40 weeks’ gestation), rather than waiting for labour to start spontaneously or until 41 weeks’ gestation if all is well. Induction has the disadvantage of increasing the incidence of forceps or ventouse births, and women often find it difficult to cope with an induced labour. Caesarean section is a major operation which can lead to blood loss, infections and increased chance of problems with subsequence births. Early birth can increase the chance of breathing problems for babies. It is important to know which approach to birth has a better impact on the health outcomes of women with pre-existing diabetes and their babies.

What evidence did we find?

We found no studies that addressed our specific question.

What does this mean?

In the absence of randomised studies, we are unable to say if women with pre-existing diabetes and their babies experience better health outcomes if they have a planned birth (by induction of labour or caesarean section at 37 to 40 weeks’ gestation) compared to waiting for labour to begin spontaneously or until 41 weeks’ gestation if all is well. More research is needed to answer this question.

About Post Author

Medical CPD & News

The Digitalis CPD trawler searches the web for all the latest news and journals.

Privacy Preference Center

Close your account?

Your account will be closed and all data will be permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. Are you sure?

Are you sure?

By disagreeing you will no longer have access to our site and will be logged out.