Research
Hormonal
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is the most prominent independent risk factor for the progression to type 2 diabetes in women, increasing the relative risk by approximately 8.3-fold.
If you had gestational diabetes, your risk of developing type 2 diabetes is over 8 times higher than women who did not. This risk persists for years. You need lifelong, regular glucose monitoring and lifestyle interventions, as standard postpartum care often neglects this long-term metabolic risk.
StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
GDM is the most prominent independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes progression in women... women with GDM had a relative risk (RR) of type 2 diabetes of 8.3
Why this rating
Supported by a meta-analysis with a high relative risk estimate (8.3) and large confidence intervals.
Source
Sex differences in type 2 diabetes
Alexandra Kautzky‐Willer et al. · Diabetologia · 2023
DOI 10.1007/s00125-023-05891-x
narrative_reviewCited 552×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is a stronger independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes in women than in men, making waist circumference a more reliable predictor of risk in women.Good
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