The Rockingham Endocrinology & Diabetes Service runs a weekly group education session for women diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). The sessions are conducted by a Credentialed Diabetes Educator and a Dietitian. Participants are educated on GDM diagnosis, causes & implications. Lifestyle changes are discussed and implemented and blood glucose level (BGL) monitoring commenced. Participants who are not able to manage BGLs with lifestyle changes are commenced on insulin therapy.

We sought to determine if women with a shorter stature are at an increased risk of developing GDM in our population group.

Data collected on 128 women who were diagnosed with GDM and attended the Rockingham Endocrinology & Diabetes Service GDM group sessions run between January 2012 and April 2013 were evaluated. The following data was collected: age, prior GDM, parity, family history of T2DM, weight pre-pregnancy and current weight, height, ethnicity, OGTT results and HbA1C.

Women with a stature of 164.9cm or below represented 60.9% of the women who attended the GDM group during the 16 month data collection period, compared with 39.1% who were 165cm or taller.

Height                          Number & % of patients
≤164.9 cm                     N = 78 (60.9 %)
≥165 cm                        N = 50 (39.1%)

The data showed that in our population group height may be an independent risk factor for diagnosis of GDM. Identifying these patients as being at increased risk of GDM and educating early on lifestyle change may be important in improving GDM outcomes. We would like to further look into the impact of ethnicity, pre-pregnancy BMI and need for insulin therapy in management of GDM in patients with a height less than 165cm.