Towards a European consensus on gestational diabetes mellitus: A pragmatic guide for diagnosis, management, and care

This article elucidates the FIGO Initiative on gestational diabetes mellitus. Given the interaction between hyperglycemia and poor pregnancy outcomes, the role of in utero imprinting in increasing the risk of diabetes and cardio-metabolic disorders in the offspring of mothers with hyperglycemia in pregnancy, as well as increasing maternal vulnerability to future diabetes and cardiovascular disorders, the issue of necessity to globally to focus on preventing, screening, diagnosing, and managing hyperglycemia in pregnancy is discussed. To solve the problem of GDM it is recommended to focus on universal testing using one-step procedure, and on the WHO and IADPSG criteria for diagnosis and management of diabetes mellitus in pregnancy, as well as on international research collaboration to provide best practice standards for testing, management, and care of women with GDM.