Hello irga-ga,
The statistics for gestational diabetes are rather imprecise, even
among experts. Oddly, the American Diabetes Association publishes two
very different statistics:
"Gestational diabetes affects about 4% of all pregnant women - about
135,000 cases of gestational diabetes in the United States each year."
"Gestational Diabetes"
American Diabetes Association
http://www.diabetes.org/main/info/affected/women/gestation_diab.jsp
"Approximately 7% of all pregnancies are complicated by GDM, resulting
in more than 200,000 cases annually."
"Gestational Diabetes Mellitus" (Diabetes Care 25:S94-S96, 2002)
American Diabetes Association
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/25/suppl_1/s94
The latter statistic comes from an official "position statement" -- so
one might presume that it is more accurate. Yet, publications from
the National Institutes of Health support the former statistic,
stating:
"Approximately 3 to 5 percent of all pregnant women in the United
States are diagnosed as having gestational diabetes."
"Understanding Gestational Diabetes"
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
National Institutes of Health
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/gest1.htm
"Nearly 135,000 pregnant women get the condition every year ...."
"Are You at Risk for Gestational Diabetes?"
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
National Institutes of Health
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/gest_diabetes.htm
At least both of these statistics imply a basic agreement on the
number of pregnancies in the United States: approximately 3 million
per year. (200,000 divided by 7% is a little under 3 million, while
135,000 divided by 4% is a little more than 3 million.) Yet, the most
common statistic I have seen is that there are about 6 million
pregnancies in the United States per year. Even though the statistic
is several years old, it's hard to imagine that the number has since
dropped to 3 million. Here is one example of this statistic:
"The Whole Truth About Contraception: A Guide to Safe and Effective
Choices (1997)" (Joseph Henry Press) [Chapter 18 - Abortion - page
231]
National Academies Press
http://www.nap.edu/books/030905494X/html/231.html
This page may also indicate one reason why the numbers are not so far
apart; approximately 1.5 million pregnancies are ended by abortion.
In addition, it is likely that a sizable number of pregnancies end in
miscarriage; I have seen indications of close to 1 million per year.
Perhaps cases of abortion, miscarriages, and lack of medical attention
explain the discrepancy between the gestational diabetes statistics
and the overall pregnancy statistics. But this is just my
speculation.
Despite the confusing statistics, I hope that this information is
helpful.
- justaskscott-ga
Search strategy --
Searched on Google Directory for:
diabetes
Searched on Google for:
"gestational diabetes" site:gov
"million pregnancies in the united states"
"million pregnancies in the us"
"million pregnancies" site:www.nap.edu |
