Here's yet another reason why it is important to maintain a healthy weight before getting pregnant: avoiding diabetes. According to a recent study done by Kaiser Permanente, the number of women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes has doubled since 1999; among teenagers that figure has risen to five times the original amount. Diabetes can cause a number of complications during pregnancy.
According to the study, Black, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander women were more likely to have pre-pregnancy diabetes. Women over the age of 40 saw a spike in pre-pregnancy diabetes of 40 percent between the years of 1999 and 2005. Diabetic pregnancies can cause birth defects, large babies and more difficult deliveries, miscarriages early in the pregnancy and stillbirths during the latter part of a pregnancy.
The risk of gestational diabetes, which develops during pregnancy but disappears after birth, has not increased, according to researchers. The study's findings are published in this month's issue of "Diabetes Care."
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