GTT and BMI

[megcleary]

What level does your BMI need to be that a GTT is triggered.

One midwife said 30 and another 35. does anyone know?

I had a GTT and i'm 26.1 BMI. I had mine done because brother is Type 1. If they don;t think you need one i wouldn't push for it the drink is gross!
Sorry that doesn;t answer your question bt just had to say the drink is gross!

any one?

Mine got triggered at 30. My BMI is 30.5! No other risk factors, clear urine tests etc. so far, so it was just on basis of BMI.

Going for GTT next Wed [dreading it icon].

D

I think its over 30, I have got mine on Thursday! really not looking forward to it, but my BMI is really high so I am not surprised that I have to have it!!

think it depends on hospital. My BMI was 31 and never had the GTT

I believe if your BMI is over 30 you get one at 28 weeks, if it's over 35 you get one at 20 weeks. I got sent for a 20 week one by mistake and happily sent straight home for not being fat enough. But I do have to have a check at 28 weeks.

It may vary between NHS trusts though.

Further to what Muser posted, mine is at 28 weeks.

D

I thought it was lower than 30, maybe even 27.

Mine is 25/26 but I have family history and have had GD in a previous pregnancy so had one at 16 weeks and one at 20 weeks , but have been monitoring my bloods at home though out. I do have GD.

The drink is not great but you can take 10 minutes to drink it and have a glass of water too. You get a couple of hours with your feet up (take a book) and the blood taking is less than when you have your booking bloods done by your midwife.

GD, for most, is not too difficult to manage and it's better to know if you have it.

Midwife has just called back and said it is if your BMI is over 35 so at 30 am safe phew. Thanks for the replies.

My BMI is 31 but my midwife put it down as 29 (think she must have read her chart wrongly!)

I was thinking about asking for the GTT - think I would definitely rather have the test than have undiagnosed GTT. Do you think this is a waste of time bearing in mind I have no symptoms of it and presumably might show up in my urine test anyway?

Gestational diabetes has very few symptoms that can't be written off as general pregnancy niggles.

You'll probably have a urine test every time you have a midwife appointment and they're looking for sugar and infection. You also get a standard blood sugar level test at your 28 week appointment both of these things would act as a trigger for a GTT if they were high. I wouldn't worry about it, it would be picked up along the way as long as you attend all your appointments.

Perfect - thanks slimyak

Just wanted to add a few things.

1. NICE guidelines reccommend everyone with a bmi of 30 or more is offered a GTT. Though these are only reccomendations each hospital can decide for itself.

1. dipstick urine testing has been shown to not be a reliable test for picking up gd.

1. Not every hospital does a glucose check at 28 weeks in fact the majority don't.

From NICE guidelines: Screening for gestational diabetes using risk factors is recommended in a healthy population. At the booking appointment, the following risk factors for gestational diabetes should be determined:
− body mass index above 30 kg/m2
− previous macrosomic baby weighing 4.5 kg or above
− previous gestational diabetes
− family history of diabetes (first-degree relative with diabetes)
− family origin with a high prevalence of diabetes:
◊ South Asian (specifically women whose country of family origin is India, Pakistan or Bangladesh)
◊ black Caribbean
◊ Middle Eastern (specifically women whose country of family origin is Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon or Egypt).
Women with any one of these risk factors should be offered testing for gestational diabetes (refer to ?Diabetes in pregnancy? [NICE clinical guideline 63], available from www.nice.org.uk/CG063).

Screening for gestational diabetes using fasting plasma glucose, random blood glucose, glucose challenge test and urinalysis for glucose should not be undertaken.

Hi im about 5ft and 29 weeks and weigh just under 10st at the mo, i have GD and had it in my last pregnancy.

I have no family history and usualy weigh 8st 12 (pre preg)

Im a healthy girl always on the go and im also british so im an unlucky one, i dont know why i got landed with it

Our hospital refer everyone for GTT at 28 weeks.

As for the yukky glucose drink, my MW told me to bring a 500ml bottle of normal Lucozade. Far nicer than the yukky gloop!!

I had a GTT at 16 weeks because of some research I'm taking part in.

My MW today said its offered to everyone with a BMI of over 40 but she may have just been making me feel better with a BMI of 46!

Having been diagnosed with GD with dc3 but showing no symptoms at all, I would recommend having the GTT. I tried to wriggle out of it as my 2 previous pregnancies were fine but they recommended it quite strongly so I went ahead (BMI about 33). I am soooo glad I did. Yes GD control is not ideal, I would love to eat what I like in these last few weeks but I was armed with the information to make sure that my baby will come out healthy and unaffected by my GD (hopefully). I have managed to maintain good control and I am safe in the knowledge that I have done all I can for my baby. For the sake of a 2 hour wait, a couple of blood tests and an unpleasant drink, I don't feel it is worth the risk of baby having low blood sugar and the potential to need special care after the birth. Please don't rely on general ante-natal urine tests as they do not always pick up any problems.

sugar never showed in my urine either, only got tested as its routine here for everyone at 28 weeks

Just to give an opposite view - testing on the basis of BMI alone is undoubtedly causing many perfectly healthy pregnant women a great deal of stress and costing the NHS - is that cost outweighed by savings made in the care of the very few mothers and babies for whom impaired glucose tolerance would actually have been seriously problematic? I don't know if that analysis is available - I would be interested to see it.

I also think that it's important to understand that when you are being 'managed' for GD - it's not just the pregnancy that's being managed. It's the birth as well - and I believe there is the potential for unnecessary interventions to be proposed because the woman has been labelled as 'diabetic'.
I probably don't need to state that I refused the GTT. (Twice) I gave birth to two healthy daughters.