Effect of dietary and physical activity behavioral interventions on reducing postpartum weight retention among women with recent gestational diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Postpartum weight retention (PPWR) increases the risk of long-term obesity and metabolic disease in women with recent gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness of dietary and physical activity behavior interventions in reducing PPWR. We systematically searched 13 electronic databases to retrieve articles published in English or Chinese before October 22, 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed dietary and/or physical activity behaviors interventions on the outcomes of PPWR among women with recent GDM were included. Twelve studies researched a total of 5672 participants. The meta-analysis indicated that dietary and physical activity behaviors interventions showed significant effects on the pooled effect size of body weight changes (WMD = -2.19, 95% CIs: -3.39, -0.98 kg), body mass index (WMD = -0.98, 95% CIs: -1.56, -0.39 kg/m2 ), and waist circumference (WMD = -1.20, 95% CIs: -2.49, 0.08 cm). Furthermore, the intervention group was more likely to achieve weight reduction (OR = 0.76, 95% CIs: 0.67, 0.87) than the control group. Postpartum dietary and physical activity behavior interventions for women with a recent GDM can reduce PPWR, and 1 year postpartum may be a window of opportunity.

Long-term cost-effectiveness of implementing a lifestyle intervention during pregnancy to reduce the incidence of gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS

The aim of this study was to determine the long-term cost-effectiveness and return on investment of implementing a structured lifestyle intervention to reduce excessive gestational weight gain and associated incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

METHODS

A decision-analytic Markov model was used to compare the health and cost-effectiveness outcomes for (1) a structured lifestyle intervention during pregnancy to prevent GDM and subsequent type 2 diabetes; and (2) current usual antenatal care. Life table modelling was used to capture type 2 diabetes morbidity, mortality and quality-adjusted life years over a lifetime horizon for all women giving birth in Australia. Costs incorporated both healthcare and societal perspectives. The intervention effect was derived from published meta-analyses. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were used to capture the impact of uncertainty in the model.

RESULTS

The model projected a 10% reduction in the number of women subsequently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes through implementation of the lifestyle intervention compared with current usual care. The total net incremental cost of intervention was approximately AU$70 million, and the cost savings from the reduction in costs of antenatal care for GDM, birth complications and type 2 diabetes management were approximately AU$85 million. The intervention was dominant (cost-saving) compared with usual care from a healthcare perspective, and returned AU$1.22 (95% CI 0.53, 2.13) per dollar invested. The results were robust to sensitivity analysis, and remained cost-saving or highly cost-effective in each of the scenarios explored.

CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION

This study demonstrates significant cost savings from implementation of a structured lifestyle intervention during pregnancy, due to a reduction in adverse health outcomes for women during both the perinatal period and over their lifetime.

Benefits and harms associated with an increase in gestational diabetes diagnosis in Queensland, Australia: a retrospective cohort comparison of diagnosis rates, outcomes, interventions and medication use for two periods, 2011-2013 and 2016-2018, using a large perinatal database

OBJECTIVES

To assess benefits and harms arising from increasing gestational diabetes (GDM) diagnosis, including for women with normal-sized babies.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Diagnosis rates, outcomes, interventions and medication use are compared in a retrospective cohort study of 229 757 women birthing in public hospitals of the Australian State of Queensland during two periods, 2011-2013 and 2016-2018, using data from the Queensland Perinatal Data Collection.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Comparisons include hypertensive disorders, caesarean section, shoulder dystocia and associated harm, induction of labour (IOL), planned birth (PB), early planned birth <39 weeks (EPB), spontaneous labour onset with vaginal birth (SLVB) and medication use.

RESULTS

GDM diagnosis increased from 7.8% to 14.3%. There was no improvement in shoulder dystocia associated injuries, hypertensive disorders or caesarean sections. There was an increase in IOL (21.8%-30.0%; p<0.001), PB (36.3% to 46.0%; p<0.001) and EPB (13.5%-20.6%; p<0.001), and a decrease in SLVB (56.0%-47.3%; p<0.001). Women with GDM experienced an increase in IOL (40.9%-49.8%; p<0.001), PB (62.9% to 71.8%; p<0.001) and EPB (35.3%-45.7%; p<0.001), and a decrease in SLVB (30.01%-23.6%; p<0.001), with similar changes for mothers with normal-sized babies. Of women prescribed insulin in 2016-2018, 60.4% experienced IOL, 88.5% PB, 76.4% EPB and 8.0% SLVB. Medication use increased from 41.2% to 49.4% in women with GDM, from 3.2% to 7.1% in the antenatal population overall, from 3.3% to 7.5% in women with normal-sized babies and from 2.21% to 4.38% with babies less than the 10th percentile.

CONCLUSION

Outcomes were not apparently improved with increased GDM diagnosis. The merits of increased IOL or decreased SLVB depend on the views of individual women, but categorising more pregnancies as abnormal, and exposing more babies to the potential effects of early birth, medication effects and growth limitation may be harmful.

A novel methodological framework was described for detecting and quantifying overdiagnosis

OBJECTIVES

Methods to quantify overdiagnosis of screen detected cancer have been developed, but methods for quantifying overdiagnosis of non-cancer conditions (whether symptomatic or asymptomatic) have been lacking. We aimed to develop a methodological framework for quantifying overdiagnosis that may be used for asymptomatic or symptomatic conditions, and used Gestational Diabetes Mellitus as an example of how it may be applied.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING

We identify two earlier definitions for overdiagnosis, a narrower prognosis-based definition, and a wider utility-based definition. Building on the central importance of the concepts of prognostic information and clinical utility of a diagnosis, we consider the following questions: within a target population, do people found to have a disease using one diagnostic strategy but found not to have the disease using another diagnostic strategy (so called 'additional diagnoses'), have an increased risk of adverse clinical outcomes without treatment (prognosis evidence), and/or a decreased risk of adverse outcomes with treatment (utility evidence)?

RESULTS

Using Causal Directed Acyclic Graphs and Fair Umpires, we illuminate the relationships between diagnostics strategies and the frequency of overdiagnosis. We then use the example of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus to demonstrate how the Fair Umpire framework may be applied to estimate overdiagnosis.

CONCLUSION

Our framework may be used to quantify overdiagnosis in non-cancer conditions (and in cancer conditions), as well as to guide further studies on this topic.