Blood Sugar Ranges For Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes is diabetes found for the first time when a woman in pregnant. Out of every 100 pregnant women, three to eight suffer from gestational diabetes. The human body uses glucose from food to produce energy. Insulin made by pancreas is required to move sugar from the bloodstream into body cells.

Many women who develop gestational diabetes had normal glucose levels before pregnancy will return to that normal state after the baby is born. During their phase of gestational diabetes, they still make insulin but this insulin does not work as it should. Without sufficient insulin, the sugar stays in the blood and the blood sugar level rises above normal. This is unsafe for both the mother and the baby.

All pregnant women should be screened for gestational diabetes at 24 - 26 weeks as it is at this stage the disease begins to show. Screening consists of a plasma glucose test performed an hour after consuming 50 grams of glucose. If the test is performed after fasting overnight, a one-hour glucose value of 140 mg/dl or greater is considered to be positive. If the test is performed after a meal, the threshold is reduced to 130 mg/dl. Gestational diabetes is diagnosed in the following circumstances:

When the screening test result is above 198 mg/dl
When the fasting blood glucose is above 126 mg/dl
When two or more values on a 100 gram, 3-hour oral glucose tolerance test are abnormal according to the values shown below:
- Hour 0 = 95 mg/dl
- Hour 1 = 180 mg/dl
- Hour 2 = 155 mg/dl
- Hour 3 = 140 mg/dl

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Blood Sugar Ranges For Gestational Diabetes