The impact of environmental temperature on the diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus

Objective To investigate a probable impact of seasons on the diagnosis of GDM, as well as the specific effect of the environmental temperature on the diagnosis of this clinical entity. Patients and methods Two observational studies, one retrospective and one prospective, were conducted in a referral center. Study A included retrospectively 7618 pregnant women who underwent a 3-h 100 g OGTT during the 3rd trimester of gestation. Study B prospectively included 768 pregnant women tested in the 3rd trimester of gestation with a 75 g OGTT. Temperature was recorded every day at 09:00 h. Results Retrospective Study A: GDM prevalence differed significantly by season: winter = 28.1%, summer = 39.2%, spring = 32.4% and autumn = 32.4% (P