Strategies for Improving the Detection of Dysglycemia in the Postpartum Period in Women With Gestational Diabetes: Electronic Reminders and New Diagnostic Criteria

Gestational diabetes is one of the most common complications during pregnancy. With the increase in obesity and overweight in the population, as well as the postponement of motherhood, its incidence has been steadily increasing.

It is associated with complications such as polyhydramnios, macrosomia, premature labor, fetal death, hypoglycemia, and neonatal respiratory distress. Given the increase in the incidence of gestational diabetes and its clinical and epidemiological importance, a better understanding of the disease can promote improved care and prevention of its complications.

Women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are at increased risk of developing prediabetes and type 2 diabetes in the years following childbirth. For this reason, national and international guidelines recommend performing a 75g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT-75g) in the postpartum period, usually between six and 12 weeks after delivery, as a strategy for reclassifying glycemic status and early identification of persistent metabolic changes.

Despite the clinical relevance of the OGTT-75g in the follow-up of women with GDM, the rate of attendance for the test is notoriously low, especially in public health services. The reasons are multifactorial and include task overload in the postpartum period, logistical barriers, low risk perception, and the absence of systematic strategies to reinforce attendance. Simple interventions, such as sending reminders via electronic messages, have shown promise.

Considering the clinical and epidemiological relevance of GDM and these two complementary challenges-low attendance rates for screening and the diagnostic limitations of the current protocol-we propose two lines of investigation in this study: