Rising rates of gestational diabetes raise concerns for the health of mother and child

Rising rates of gestational diabetes raise concerns for the health of mother and child

The number of gestational diabetes in the U.S. increased every year from 2016 to 2024, according to a new Northwestern Medicine analysis of more than 12 million U.S. births. The condition, which poses a health risk to mother and child, rose 36% over the nine-year period (from 58 to 79 cases per 1,000 births) and increased across all racial and ethnic groups.

"Gestational diabetes has been steadily increasing for more than 10 years, meaning everything we've tried to control diabetes in pregnancy hasn't worked," said senior author Dr. Nilay Shah, assistant professor of cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

The results update the research team's previous work from 2011-2019 and confirm nearly 15 years of uninterrupted increases. Gestational diabetes, a form of glucose intolerance that is first diagnosed during pregnancy, poses immediate pregnancy risks and increases the risk of future diabetes and heart disease for both the mother and the child. Shah said the alarming trend likely reflects the deteriorating health of young Americans.

“The health status of young adults has continued to deteriorate – less healthy eating, less exercise, more obesity,” he said.

These trends are likely why diabetes rates during pregnancy have increased.”

Dr. Nilay Shah, Northwestern University

The study is the most recent national analysis of gestational diabetes trends in the United States. It will be released on December 29thJAMA Internal Medicine.

For the study, Northwestern scientists analyzed every birth in the U.S. between 2016 and 2024 for first singleton pregnancies, using birth certificate data from the National Center for Health Statistics. The team then broke the data down by race and ethnicity and found that women who were American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or from other Pacific Island groups had significantly higher rates of gestational diabetes than other groups.

"This is particularly important because these populations tend to be the least represented in health research, so we actually understand very little about why these groups have such high rates," Shah said.

This is how many women per 1,000 births had gestational diabetes in 2024:

• 137 pro 1.000 – Indianer/Alaska-Ureinwohner
• 131 pro 1.000 – Asiaten
• 126 pro 1.000 – Einheimische hawaiianische/pazifische Inselbewohner
• 85 pro 1.000 – Hispanoamerikaner
• 71 pro 1.000 – Weiß
• 67 pro 1.000 – Schwarz

“The reasons for the differences in gestational diabetes rates across groups are an important area for further research,” Shah said. The study's tables and charts provide visual representations of national advancement over time and rates within each racial and ethnic group, including Asian and Hispanic categories, presented in detailed subgroups.

“We saw many differences within Asian and Hispanic groups that are often overlooked in research,” noted lead author Emily Lam, a third-year medical student at Feinberg University.

“These data clearly show that we are not doing enough to support the health of the U.S. population, particularly young women before and during pregnancy,” Shah said. “Public health and policy interventions should be about ensuring all people have access to quality health care and giving them the time and resources to maintain health-promoting behaviors.”

The study is titled “Gestational Diabetes in the United States from 2016 to 2024.”

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