The top 10 research priorities in diabetes and pregnancy according to women, support networks and healthcare professionals.

Funder: Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of OxfordAIMS: To undertake a Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) to establish priorities for future research in diabetes and pregnancy, according to women with experience of pregnancy, and planning pregnancy, with any type of diabetes, their support networks and healthcare professionals. METHODS: The PSP used established James Lind Alliance (JLA) methodology working with women and their support networks and healthcare professionals UK-wide. Unanswered questions about the time before, during or after pregnancy with any type of diabetes were identified using an online survey and broad-level literature search. A second survey identified a shortlist of questions for final prioritisation at an online consensus development workshop. RESULTS: There were 466 responses (32% healthcare professionals) to the initial survey, with 1161 questions, which were aggregated into 60 unanswered questions. There were 614 responses (20% healthcare professionals) to the second survey and 18 questions shortlisted for ranking at the workshop. The top 10 questions were: diabetes technology, the best test for diabetes during pregnancy, diet and lifestyle interventions for diabetes management during pregnancy, emotional and well-being needs of women with diabetes pre- to post-pregnancy, safe full-term birth, post-natal care and support needs of women, diagnosis and management late in pregnancy, prevention of other types of diabetes in women with gestational diabetes, women's labour and birth experiences and choices and improving planning pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: These research priorities provide guidance for research funders and researchers to target research in diabetes and pregnancy that will achieve greatest value and impact

The impact of new guidelines on screening for gestational diabetes mellitus

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has important maternal and fetal implications. In 2010, the Health Service Executive published guidelines on GDM. We examined the impact of the new guidelines in a large maternity unit. In January 2011, the hospital replaced the 100g Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) with the new 75g OGTT. We compared the first 6 months of 2011 with the first 6 months of 2010. The new guidelines were associated with a 22% increase in women screened from 1375 in 2010 to 1679 in 2011 (p<0.001). Of the women screened, the number diagnosed with GDM increased from 10.1% (n=139) to 13.2% (n=221) (p<0.001).The combination of increased screening and a more sensitive OGTT resulted in the number of women diagnosed with GDM increasing 59% from 139 to 221 (p=0.02).This large increase has important resource implications but, if clinical outcomes are improved, there should be a decrease in long-term costs