Postpartum care for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women with Gestational diabetes mellitus across urban, rural and remote locations: a protocol for a cohort linkage study

Chamberlain, Catherine, Fredericks, Bronwyn, Davis, Bronwyn, Mein, Jacqueline, Smith, Catherine, Eades, Sandra, and Oldenburg, Brian (2013) Postpartum care for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women with Gestational diabetes mellitus across urban, rural and remote locations: a protocol for a cohort linkage study. SpringerPlus, 2. 576. pp. 1-13.

[img]
Preview
PDF (Published Version) - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (603kB) | Preview
View at Publisher Website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/2193-1801-2-57...
 
9
998


Abstract

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is increasing, along with obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2DM), with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Aboriginala) women in Australia particularly affected. GDM causes serious complications in pregnancy, birth, and the longer term, for women and their infants. Women with GDM have an eightfold risk of developing T2DM after pregnancy, compared to women without GDM. Indigenous women have an even higher risk, at a younger age, and progress more quickly from GDM to T2DM, compared to non-Indigenous women. If left undetected and untreated, T2DM increases risks in subsequent pregnancies, and can lead to heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, limb amputations and blindness for the woman in the longer term. A GDM diagnosis offers a 'window of opportunity' to provide acceptable and effective prevention, treatment, and postpartum care. Low rates of postpartum T2DM screening are reported among non-Aboriginal women in Australia and Indigenous women in other countries, however, data for Aboriginal women in Australia are scarce. A healthy diet, exercise and breastfeeding can delay the onset of T2DM, and together with T2DM screening are recommended elements of postpartum care for women with GDM. This paper describes methods for a study evaluating postpartum care among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women with GDM.

Methods/Design: This retrospective cohort includes all women who gave birth at Cairns Hospital in far north Queensland, Australia, from 2004 to 2010, coded as having GDM in the Cairns Hospital Clinical Coding system. Data is being linked with the Midwives Perinatal Data Collection, and the three local laboratories. Hospital medical records are being reviewed to validate accuracy of GDM case ascertainment, and gather information on breastfeeding and provision of dietary advice. Survival analysis is being used to estimate time to screening, and rates of progression from GDM to T2DM. Logistic regression is being used to compare postpartum care between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women, and assess factors that may be associated with provision of postpartum care.

Discussion: There are challenges to collecting postpartum data for women with GDM, however, this research is urgently needed to ensure adequate postpartum care is provided for women with GDM.

Item ID: 46206
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2193-1801
Keywords: Gestational diabetes mellitus; type 2 diabetes mellitus; diabetes; pregnancy; Aboriginal; Indigenous
Additional Information:

© Chamberlain et al.; licensee Springer. 2013

This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Funders: Cairns Diabetes Centre
Date Deposited: 01 Nov 2016 23:15
FoR Codes: 11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1103 Clinical Sciences > 110306 Endocrinology @ 34%
11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1110 Nursing > 111006 Midwifery @ 33%
11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1117 Public Health and Health Services > 111706 Epidemiology @ 33%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9203 Indigenous Health > 920302 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health - Health Status and Outcomes @ 33%
92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920104 Diabetes @ 34%
92 HEALTH > 9205 Specific Population Health (excl. Indigenous Health) > 920507 Womens Health @ 33%
Downloads: Total: 998
Last 12 Months: 11
More Statistics

Actions (Repository Staff Only)

Item Control Page Item Control Page