High fasting plasma glucose in early pregnancy and postpartum diabetes in Chinese women with gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) confers substantial short- and long-term metabolic complications for mothers and offspring. Whether GDM should be screened for and managed in early pregnancy remains de- bated, and the standardized definition and optimal screening window for Chinese women remain controversial. In a prospective cohort from Tianjin, China, we previously found that elevated fasting plasma glucose (FPG) level in early pregnancy was associated with adverse pregnancy out- comes in a gestational age–dependent manner (1). Using postpartum follow-up data from this cohort, we examined in the present study the association between FPG levels in early pregnancy and post- partum diabetes among women with GDM and also wanted to determine which diagnostic threshold and gestational window most effectively captures this long- term risk, thereby informing early risk stratification.