ADA: Women with Preeclampsia Have Double the Type 2 Diabetes Risk

WASHINGTON, June 10 ? Preeclampsia is an independent risk marker for type 2 diabetes, even when gestational diabetes is taken into account, researchers reported here today.

Women with a history of preeclampsia have a two-fold greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with women who had no preeclampsia, said Darcy B. Carr, M.D., of the University of Washington in Seattle.

The risk for type 2 diabetes remained significant after controlling for the mother's age at delivery, multiparity, and gestational diabetes, said Dr. Carr in a presentation at the American Diabetes Association meeting here.

Preeclampsia is associated with obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and endothelial dysfunction, and women with a history of the condition are known to be at increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease, Dr. Carr noted.

To determine whether there could be a similar relationship between preeclampsia and diabetes risk, the investigators conducted a cohort study in a Seattle-area group health cooperative. The women in the cohort included those who delivered at the cooperative during 1985 to 2002. In all, 3,814 of the women had preeclampsia during their pregnancies, and 30,546 did not.

All in the study had been enrolled in the cooperative for at least one year prior to delivery, received subsequent care there, and had no known history of diabetes before the pregnancy, and did not develop type 1 diabetes after the study.

Data on type 2 diabetes in the cohort was gathered through 2005 on the basis of inpatient and outpatient ICD-9 codes, pharmacy data for insulin or oral diabetic agents, or from two elevated plasma glucose tests (fasting ?126 mg/dL and/or nonfasting ?200 mg/dL).

The mean follow-up was 5.4 years. The mean age at delivery in each group was about 30 years. Women in the preeclampsia group were more likely to have had more than one pregnancy (43.8% vs. 38.4%, P