Comparison Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in Women with Short Inter Pregnancy Interval vs Women with Normal Pregnancy Interval in two Hospitals of Northern and Southern Regions of Pakistan

Objective: To compare presence of gestational diabetes mellitus in women with short inter pregnancy interval vs women with normal pregnancy interval in two hospitals of northern and southern regions of Pakistan. Study Design: Case Control study. Setting and Duration of Study: Gynecology and Obstetrics Department, Combined Military Hospital, Malir and Gilgit Pakistan, from Jun 2022 to Feb 2023. Methodology: This case control study was conducted in two military hospitals of Pakistan. Cases were women with short inter pregnancy interval and controls were equal number of pregnant women who had normal inter pregnancy interval. Both the groups were followed up for whole period of pregnancy to look for presence of gestational diabetes mellitus or other relevant metabolic abnormalities. Results: A total 304 cases of short interval pregnancy were studied along with equal number of controls. Mean age of the total study participants was 30.29±5.90 years. When cases and controls were compared for presence of gestational diabetes mellitus, 7(2.3%) controls had this disease while 78(25.6%) cases developed gestational diabetes mellitus during the course of pregnancy (p-value<0.001). Pregnancy induced hypertension, Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome and preeclampsia were not statistically significant among cases and controls (p-value>0.05). Conclusion: Women with short inter pregnancy interval were found more at risk of having gestational diabetes mellitus as compared to control group which comprised of women with normal inter pregnancy interval.