Project summary
Scientists think that gestational diabetes could be split into two main subtypes. Dr Sara White will find out if measurements of babies from ultrasound scans could be used to identify which subtype of gestational diabetes a woman has. This could help doctors to tailor and improve care, potentially reducing the risk of pregnancy complications for hundreds of thousands of women in the UK every year.
Background to research
Gestational diabetes develops during pregnancy. It can lead to complications during pregnancy and birth and can put mums and their children at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
At the moment, all women with gestational diabetes are treated in the same way. But new evidence suggests that we can break down gestational diabetes into two different subtypes. In one subtype, women don’t produce enough insulin. And in the other subtype, women produce enough insulin, but their bodies can’t use it properly. This is known insulin resistance.
Research has shown that in the insulin resistant subtype, babies are more likely to grow too big in the womb. This can be dangerous for mum and baby. But we don’t know enough about other possible ways the two subtypes might affect the baby. Or if this happens in all groups of women.
Research aims
Dr Sara White and her PhD student will investigate the specific ways that gestational diabetes subtypes affect how a baby grows and how the baby’s body fat develops.
They will study ultrasound scans from 750 women of White and South Asian ethnicity to measure this. They want to see if simple measurements from the scans could be used to identify which gestational diabetes subtype a woman has, and better understand their risks of complications during pregnancy and birth.
They’ll also check if there are any differences between women of different ethnicities.
Potential benefit to people with diabetes
Gestational diabetes affects over 100,000 women in the UK every year. This research could give doctors a simple way of understanding a woman’s individual risk of gestational diabetes, or of complications during pregnancy and birth. This would then allow them to give personalised care – tailoring treatment or birth plans to provide the best possible care for each woman and reduce their risk of pregnancy complications.
