Introduction: Gestatitonal diabetes has attracted renewed interest in recent years due to the proliferation of its risk factors and its serious repercussions on maternal and perinatal health. The epidemiology, diagnosis and management of glucose metabolism disorders during pregnancy warrant further evalua8on in Africa, and particularly in Senegal. It is against this backdrop that this study was conducted.
Methodology: We conducted a retrospective, descriptive and analytical study over a 13-month period at the Hospital Principal de Dakar. All patients with diabetes who gave birth in the department were included.
Results: We found a prevalence of gestational diabetes (GD) of 4%. The main risk factors for GD identified were maternal age over 30 years (75.9%), a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m² (78.9%) and a family history of diabetes (46%). Several complications occurred during the course of the pregnancy: hypertension (70.2%), preterm birth (46.1%), low birth weight (44.6%), premature rupture of membranes (40.5%) and macrosomia (21.6%). Approximately one in two patients (51.3%) gave birth by caesarean section. The mean birth weight of the newborns was 3010 g. The mean APGAR score was 7.6 at 1 minute and 8.5 at 5 minutes. Sixty-five newborns (41.1%) presented with neonatal complications, including respiratory distress (16.9%), neonatal hypoglycaemia (9.2%) and congenital malformations (3.1%).
Conclusion: Carbohydrate metabolism disorders during pregnancy constitute a public health problem due to their high prevalence, particularly among older women and those who are overweight or obese, and due to their unfavourable prognosis for the newborn. Consequently, screening should be systematic and management optimised.