Gestational diabetes and pregnancy: Medications

Results of a pilot study show that a hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system customized for pregnancy used by women with type 1 diabetes at home significantly improved their glucose outcomes.

Pregnant women with type 1 diabetes can achieve similar glucose control regardless of whether they use insulin degludec or detemir, show the results of the randomised EXPECT trial.

The risk for a birth defect may be increased if the father is taking metformin around the time of spermatogenesis, say researchers.

Giving pregnant obese women metformin in addition to dietary and lifestyle advice does not reduce the likelihood of them having a baby with a high birthweight, show the results of the GRoW randomized trial.

The authors of a systematic review find insufficient evidence to support the use of metformin to improve pregnancy outcomes among obese women.

A European-wide case–control study finds little evidence for risk to the developing fetus if a mother is taking metformin.

A head-to-head trial in women with gestational diabetes has failed to prove that glyburide is statistically noninferior to insulin in terms of perinatal outcomes.

Women with diabetes who use oral antidiabetic agents during the first trimester of pregnancy do not have a greater risk for adverse maternal or fetal outcomes than those using insulin, researchers report.

Women who are diagnosed with gestational diabetes within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy are at particularly high risk for delivering a baby that is large for its gestational age, say researchers.

The two diabetes-related Cochrane reviews published in November focus on the prevention and treatment of gestational diabetes.

The two diabetes-related Cochrane reviews published in October focused on diabetes during pregnancy; the first covered different methods of glucose monitoring, while the second compared oral antidiabetic agents with insulin, with both concluding that better quality research is needed to draw firm conclusions.

Here we provide an overview of the seven Cochrane reviews published in June that covered topics relating to diabetes, including glycemic control for prevention of renal failure, phototherapy for foot ulcers, and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment for diabetic macular edema.

Glyburide and metformin are comparable treatments for gestational diabetes, and their combination reduces the need for insulin after treatment failure, results of a randomized trial suggest.