Hypoglycemia during the 100-g oral glucose tolerance test: incidence and perinatal significance.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate and report the incidence and perinatal significance of hypoglycemia during the 100-g oral glucose tolerance test in pregnant women.

METHODS: Over a 3-year period, we analyzed the incidence and perinatal outcome of pregnant women who experienced hypoglycemia, defined as a plasma glucose level of 50 mg/dL or less while undergoing the 100-g oral glucose tolerance test. The study group included women who delivered singletons at term. Women who underwent the 100-g oral glucose tolerance test during the same period and had no hypoglycemia served as the control group.

RESULTS: A total of 805 women were included in the study, which comprised 51 women (6.3%) who experienced hypoglycemia during the test and 754 women in the control group. Gestational diabetes mellitus was diagnosed in 5/51 (9.8%) women in the study group, compared with 216/754 (28.6%) women in the control group (P < .03), and the neonates born to these women had significantly lower birth weights.

CONCLUSION: The incidence of reactive hypoglycemia during the 100-g oral glucose tolerance test in our population is 6.3%. Women who experience hypoglycemia during the test have a significantly lower incidence of gestational diabetes and neonatal birth weights.