Abstract

Introduction: Gestational Diabetes (GD) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a carbohydrate tolerance disorder, leading to hyperglycemia of varying severity, starting or diagnosed for the first time during pregnancy regardless of necessary treatment and evolution in the postpartum. Gestational Diabetes (GD) is a public health problem whose prevalence and risk factors are variable depending on the population studied.
Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the place of fructosamine in the detection of gestational diabetes at Laquintinie Hospital in Douala.
Methodology: This was a prospective cross-sectional and descriptive study conducted over a period of 5 months (from 05^th January 2017 to 07^th June 2017). It was conducted in pregnant women from the 24^th to the 28^th week of amenorrhea, coming for prenatal consultation at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Laquintinie Hospital in Douala. Data of interest were age, body mass index, obstetrical history (macrosomia, abortion, in utero foetal death) and glycaemic tests. Sampling was consecutive, not exhaustive. Data was analysed using SPSS software. INFO version 20.0.
Results: A total of 236 women were included in our study and 21 pregnant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The predominant risk factors in the study population were history of intrauterine foetal death (IUFD) 11.44% (n = 27), abortion 10.17% (n = 24) and macrosomia 7.63% (n = 18). In the gestational diabetic population these risk factors were in the order of 28.57% (n = 6) for the history of IUFD, 38.10% (n = 8) for the macrosomia and 9.52% for history of abortion (n = 2). 35 years and above accounted for 28.57% of diabetic pregnant women; 71.42% (n = 15) were overweight and 9.52% (n = 2) were obese. The fructosamine test performed in the 21 pregnant diabetics had a non-exposing correlation coefficient between oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and fructosamine (r = 0.42 and p = 0.52 not significant). The prevalence of gestational diabetes at Laquintinie Hospital in Douala was 8.89%.
Conclusion: The determination of fructosamine is not recommended for the diagnosis of gestational diabetes.