Racial Differences in the Association Between Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract Background: It is recognized that a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) predicts incident type 2 diabetes in women. However, it is unclear if there is a racial disparity between the association of GDM and type 2 diabetes. Methods: We studied 1,142 women with a history of GDM and 18,856 women without a history of GDM aged 13–50 years with their first record of pregnancy in Louisiana State University Hospital-Based Longitudinal Study database between 1990 and 2009. History of GDM was used to predict incident type 2 diabetes. Results: During a mean follow-up of 8.6 years, 1,394 women developed type 2 diabetes. The multivariable adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of type 2 diabetes was 6.52 (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.73-7.43) among women with GDM compared to women without GDM. Stratification by age, race, and body mass index (BMI) gave similar results. Compared with African American and white women without a history of GDM, the relative risk for type 2 diabetes was higher in African American ...