Awareness of gestational diabetes mellitus among pregnant women attending a tertiary health center

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Awareness of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) among pregnant women is poor. However, increasing awareness may help in diagnosis and prevention of maternal and fetal complications. Hence, this study was aimed at evaluating the knowledge in diagnosed GDM pregnant women. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2014 to March 2017. A total of 500 registered pregnant women diagnosed to have GDM residing within 5 km of the study area aged more than 18 years who were willing to participate in the study were enrolled in the study. The participants were provided with the questionnaire which was designed to assess their knowledge about GDM. RESULTS: The age of the women ranged from 22 to 44 years with mean age as 27.53 ± 2.42 years and median age as 27 years. The most common age group was 26–30 years which comprised 67.6% of the women. Maximum women had primary education (61%) and were Hindus (54.8%). Most of the women were working (54.8%), resided in slum areas (43.2%), and had body mass index (BMI) between 19.8 and 26 kg/m2 (67%). The mean BMI level was 28.07 ± 4.11 kg/m2. The mean blood sugar levels at diagnosis ranged between 88 and 300 mg/dL and the mean blood sugar level was 201.36 ± 38.67 mg/dL and the median blood sugar level was 190 mg/dL. Majority of the women, that is, 57.6% of the women, had an average knowledge about GDM while 21.8% of the women had good knowledge, 1.6% had excellent, and 19% had poor knowledge. The mean knowledge score was 6.51 ± 3.41. The mean percentage of the knowledge was 36.14% ± 18.94%. Statistically significant association was noted between knowledge about GDM with maternal age and educational status, religion, and occupation (P CONCLUSION: There is poor knowledge about GDM in the study area. Hence, there is need to create awareness of this condition through counseling and use of mass media.