A Florida public health‐based endocrine clinic for low‐income pregnant women with diabetes

Objectives To evaluate pregnancy outcomes of low‐income women with diabetes‐complicated pregnancies who received care from an embedded, public health‐based endocrine specialty clinic (ESC) in Florida. Design This program evaluation used retrospective chart data to analyze client characteristics, pre‐program and during‐program glycemic control, and pregnancy outcomes of women enrolled in a prenatal ESC. Sample Ninety‐two low‐income, pregnant women with type 1/type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes (GDM) comprised this racially/ethnically diverse sample. Variables/Analysis Neonatal outcomes included frequencies of prematurity, hypoglycemia, hyperbilirubinemia, and birth weight‐for‐gestational‐age categories. Differences in maternal HbA1C at program entry and mean HbA1C during ESC care were determined by a Wilcoxon and paired sample t test. Results HbA1C levels during ESC care (6.9 ± 1.4) were less than program entry HbA1C levels (7.9 ± 1.8) for women with pregestational diabetes (Z = −3.364, p = .001). Among women with GDM, mean HbA1C values during ESC care (5.5 ± 0.4) did not significantly differ (t(51) = −0.532, p > .05) from program entry HbA1C levels (5.5 ± 0.5), suggestive of glycemic goal achievement. No neonatal hypoglycemia or hyperbilirubinemia cases were observed in both groups. Approximately 11% of births were preterm, and 16% of neonates were large‐for‐gestational‐age. Conclusions A public health‐based ESC for low‐income pregnant women with diabetes may positively affect pregnancy outcomes.