Blood ketone monitoring : a comparison between gestational diabetes and non-diabetic pregnant women

Summary Aim To measure ketonemia in a control population of pregnant women and in a population of women with gestational diabetes (GDM). To define a normal ketonemia threshold for the controls and to determine whether or not this value could play a role in the clinical management of women with GDM. Method Fifty-six women with a normal OGTT and 49 women with GDM were included and monitored from the 25 th to the 37 th week of pregnancy. Control subjects agreed to perform glycaemia and ketonemia self-monitoring 3 times a day. In addition, women with GDM were asked to measure their postprandial glycaemia. Glycaemia and ketonemia measurements were performed using Optium TM meters. Subjects kept a 24-hour food record twice a week. Results The mean ketonemia was lower in the control group than in the GDM group (0.01±0.10 vs. 0.04±0.009 mmol/l; P Conclusion This work has enabled the establishment of ketonemia reference standards in non-diabetic pregnant women. If ketonemia does indeed indicate overly restrictive dietary behavior, this parameter could be employed for monitoring adherence to the nutritional recommendations for GDM.