Treatment of mild gestational diabetes offers positive health benefits to both mother and newborn.

Landon and colleagues randomly assigned women in their 24th to 31st week of pregnancy who had mild gestational diabetes to either a treatment group consisting of diet therapy, blood glucose self-monitoring, and insulin therapy (if needed) (n = 485) or a control group (n = 473) consisting of usual prenatal care. The primary outcome was a composite of perinatal death and complications such as hyperbilirubinemia, hypoglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and birth trauma. Secondary neonatal outcomes included birth weight greater than 4,000 g (about 9 lbs.), being small (below 10th percentile) or large (above 90th percentile) for gestational age, and respiratory distress syndrome; secondary maternal outcomes included gestational hypertension, cesarean delivery, and shoulder dystocia.

Findings showed similar rates of the composite outcome between the treatment and control groups (32.4% versus 37.0%, respectively), and no perinatal deaths occurred. Significant differences between the groups were seen, however, in some of the secondary outcomes. The treatment group had a lower mean birth weight and reduced rates of large-for-gestational-age neonates, birth weight greater than 4,000 g, shoulder dystocia, cesarean delivery, and hypertensive disorders, compared with the control group.-JC