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Gestational Diabetes May Put Women at Risk for Kidney Disease

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A new study from the National Institues of Health has found that gestational diabetes mayput women at a higher risk of developing early-stage kidney disease. 

 

Up to ten percent of American women experience gestational diabetes – a condition in which women who did not have diabetes prior to pregnancy get it during pregnancy. It’s unknown how many West Virginia women experience the condition, but gestational diabetes significantly increases women’s risk of developing type two diabetesafter giving birth. And West Virginia has the highest rate of type two diabetes in the country. Diabetes is known to increase the risk for chronic kidney disease. Researchers were trying to determine if gestational diabetes also had an affect on kidney function.

Using a blood test, researchers found evidence that gestational diabetes may predispose women to early-state kidney disease – the precursor to chronic kidney disease.

The treatment and prevention for gestational diabetes is similar to that of type two diabetes: start pregnancy at a normal weight, eat healthy, exercise and watch blood sugar levels.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Marshall Health, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.

Copyright 2018 West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Kara Leigh Lofton is the Appalachia Health News Coordinator at West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Previously Kara was a freelance reporter for WMRA, an affiliate of NPR serving the Shenandoah Valley and Charlottesville in Virginia. There she produced 70 radio reports in her first year of reporting, most often on health or environmental topics. One of her reports, “Trauma Workers Find Solace in a Pause That Honors Life After a Death,” circulated nationally after proving to be an all-time favorite among WMRA’s audience.