Gestational diabetes poses extra risk for black women - latimes.com: Having diabetes during pregnancy raises the odds of having diabetes later in life, studies have repeatedly shown. But new research on ethnic variations finds the connection is especially true for African American women.
A study of more than 77,000 women from researchers at Kaiser Permanente showed that black women -- although they are less likely to develop gestational diabetes than women in other racial and ethnic groups -- have a much higher risk of having the disease later in life if they experienced the condition during pregnancy. Black women with gestational diabetes were 52% more likely to develop diabetes later compared with white women.
Women of all racial groups with the disorder should be followed closely after pregnancy, the lead author of the study, Anny H. Xiang, a senior research scientist at Kaiser's Department of Research & Evaluation in Pasadena, said in a news release.
