Gestational diabetes & diabetes in pregnancy
Midchildhood Obesity After Exposure to Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: The SWIFT Study in Youth
Authors' conclusion
Children exposed to GDM diagnosed before the standard time frame of 24 weeks, regardless of treatment type, meeting of glycemic targets, or maternal prepregnancy BMI, are more likely to develop obesity up to 11 years later.
Study context
- Population
- Mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) treated with diet or glyburide, enrolled 6–9 weeks postdelivery (2008–2011), Kaiser Permanente Northern California, and their children with BMI measured at ages 5–11 years; mothers with diabetes postdelivery excluded
- Participants
- 809 mother-child pairs
- Exposure
- Early GDM diagnosis with glyburide or diet vs standard diagnosis with diet
- Outcome
- Childhood obesity
- Follow-up
- Ages 5-11 years
Methodological detailsjoint analysis of GDM treatment type and diagnosis timing, log-binomial regression
- Joint analysis of GDM treatment type and diagnosis timing
- Log-binomial regression
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Childhood obesity (joint analysis of GDM treatment type and diagnosis timing)
Each group vs standard diagnosis + dietAdjusted relative risk (95% CI)
Early diagnosis + glyburide
1.58(1.19–2.12)
Early diagnosis + diet
1.53(1.15–2.04)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Child weight status · mean (SD) age 9.5 (1.5) years
- Normal weight
- 58%
- Overweight
- 17%
- Obesity
- 25%
Maternal GDM characteristics
- GDM diagnosed early (<24 weeks)
- 20%
- Glyburide treatment
- 27%
- Glycemic targets met
- 70%
Original publication
Midchildhood Obesity After Exposure to Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: The SWIFT Study in Youth. Diabetes Care. Published 11 December 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →