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Anemia lowers odds of diabetes in pregnancy
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Diabetes can develop in some women
during pregnancy, but rates of this condition are lower in women
with iron deficiency anemia, researchers report.
Rather than being a directly protective factor, however, it may
be that anemia is just an indicator of poor nutrition and low pregnancy-related
weight gain, which may reduce the likelihood of so-called gestational
diabetes occurring.
Dr. Terence T. Lao, of Queen Mary Hospital, in Hong Kong, and colleagues
compared 242 pregnant women with iron deficiency anemia with 484
age-matched women without anemia who delivered within the same 24-month
period.
The anemic group was shorter, had lower body weight before delivery,
and included more women who had had several pregnancies. Weight
gain during pregnancy was lower in these women than in the comparison
group.
The likelihood of gestational diabetes mellitus was also 48 percent
lower in the anemic women, Lao's group reports in the medical journal
Diabetes Care. They found that the rates of gestational diabetes
dropped as the severity and duration of anemia went up.
This relationship persisted even when other factors were taken
into account.
The investigators suggest that maternal iron deficiency anemia
"probably acts...as a surrogate for general nutritional deficiency,"
adding, "Further studies on the role of nutritional factors
in the development of diabetes and gestational diabetes mellitus
are warranted, especially in developing countries."
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, March 2004.
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