risk factors of gestational diabetes mellitus in iranian pregnant women

background: gestational diabetes mellitus (gdm) is a common asymptomatic disorder with various complications. despite the importance of risk factors of gdm, limited studies with contrasting results have been performed in this field. therefore, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the risk factors for gdm in pregnant women who referred to selected health centers in isfahan, iran. methods: in a cross-sectional study, the records of 2014 pregnant women were investigated. all women had first undergone glucose challenge test (gct). for individuals with blood sugar > 140 mg/dl, glucose tolerance test (gtt) was performed. gdm cases were identified according to carpenter-coustan criteria. a questionnaire was used to collect data from women's records. the data was analyzed by analysis of variance (anova), fisher's exact test, and multiple logistic regression in spss. p values less than 0.05 were considered significant. findings: gdm was diagnosed in 77 women (3.8%). maternal age, body mass index (bmi), gravidity, previous stillbirth, congenital malformation, and personal history of gdm were correlated with gdm. after logistic regression analysis, gdm diagnosis was significantly correlated with maternal age, bmi, and family history of diabetes. conclusion: the most important risk factors of gdm are maternal age, obesity, and family history of diabetes.