Diabetes pressure doubles
DIABETES that affects pregnant women is doubling the workload of clinicians at Cairns Hospital.
Figures provided by Diabetes Queensland show 283 women in the Cairns Regional Council area are pregnant and have gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy and usually goes away after the baby is born, however research has shown that if a mum has the condition, their child is six times more likely to develop diabetes or pre-diabetes later in life.
It is estimated that 10-15 per cent of pregnant women will develop gestational diabetes, which usually occurs around week 24-28 of pregnancy.
Cairns Diabetes Centre dia- betes educator Naomi Currie said some local women were being diagnosed with the condition earlier in their term.
“Normally our patients are tested between 26-28 weeks, but now we’re getting ladies who are tested earlier, so our workload has increased,” she said.
“I think people need to have healthier diets, healthy living, and do more exercise, even though the condition is more hormonal than due to all of that.”
Diabetes Queensland chief executive Sturt Eastwood said women may not be aware gestational diabetes put them and their child at increased risk of type 2 diabetes later in life.
“Research has shown us that if a mum has gestational diabetes she will develop type 2 diabetes within 5-10 years of that pregnancy,” he said. then remember two hours later that you’ve got to take the insulin,” she said. “It doesn’t help I’ve got a sweet tooth.”