Study on knowledge about gestational diabetes mellitus and its risk factors among antenatal mothers attending care, urban Chidambaram

Abstract

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a growing epidemiological problem. GDM is defined as the glucose intolerance during pregnancy. Treatment of GDM is important to avoid maternal and fetal complications. The objectives of this study was to assess the knowledge about GDM among antenatal mothers and to find out the association between knowledge and demographic factors.Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was done among 191 antenatal mothers in Maternity Health Centre and Government Hospital, Chidambaram during September 2017. A pre tested questionnaire was used to assess knowledge about GDM among all antenatal mothers attending OP.Results: Among the participants, 49.2% were in the age group of 21–25 years, 93.7% of them were housewives, 56.0% of them have studied up to higher secondary level and 72.8% of them were living in rural areas. In this study it was found that 35.2% of the participants had adequate knowledge about GDM and 21.5% had adequate knowledge about its risk factors. Education and residence were found to be associated with knowledge and risk factors of GDM which is statistically significant (p<0.05).Conclusions: The knowledge of antenatal women on GDM was just average. There is a need for training the physicians, paramedical people, and public regarding GDM. Health education programs must be conducted to improve the awareness among antenatal women for better utilization of health services. A regular screening of GDM among all pregnant women should be promoted in all health centres.

Developing targeted client communication messages to pregnant women in Bangladesh: a qualitative study

“…Lack of knowledge on anemia could be one reason for the high prevalence of anemia in Bangladesh. Our finding of poor knowledge of GDM is aligned with studies conducted in Bangladesh and other low-and-middle-income countries [74,75]. Compared to diabetes and anemia, knowledge of hypertension was better, especially among postpartum women, presumably because some had developed hypertension during their pregnancy.…”

Developing Targeted Client Communication Messages to Women in Bangladesh: A Qualitative Approach Based on Women’s and Family Members’ Perceptions and Knowledge of Antenatal Care

“…The inadequate knowledge of anemia demonstrated by the participants in our study needs to be addressed in this context. Our nding of poor knowledge of GDM is aligned with studies conducted in Bangladesh and other low-and-middle-income countries [17,67]. has been found to be more effective than one-way communication in other settings; as a result, this option was not discussed with women [69].…”

“…Complications, such as anemia [16], gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy [9] are common in South East Asia including Bangladesh [17][18][19]. Therefore, screening for these three conditions during pregnancy is essential, especially given that there are few symptoms at the early stages of these illnesses.…”

Level of and factors associated with awareness of gestational diabetes mellitus among pregnant women attending antenatal care at Kawempe National Referral Hospital: a cross sectional study

“…Bhowmik et al, Balaji et al and Lakshmi et al reported similar findings. In these studies, participants with higher educational status were found to have a significantly higher mean knowledge score than their counterparts [ 10 , 13 , 24 ]. This could be because education has a strong impact on health literacy; that is, pregnant women with higher education status are able to read health posters, get information from health-related articles and literature and have better understanding of the health information given to them by the health personnel during antenatal care.…”