Abstract
Background : Women with diet controlled gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have to date been excluded from birthing in one midwife-led birth centre due to an assumed risk of complications.Aims:To examine the rates of adverse outcomes for women diagonsed with diet controlled GDMbut who may be excluded from birthing in a midwife-led unit and to identify whether outcomes are the same for these women as for other low-risk women giving birth in one local maternity unit. Method : Retrospective analysis was conducted of data on low risk women giving birth at a maternity unit in the South East of England to compare the birth outcomes of women with or without GDM. Data were analysed in Excel and presented as descriptive statistics. Results: In 2014, a total of 164 women out of 4032 delivering at the maternity unit had gestational diabetes. Among these, 89 were controlled through diet alone. Data for 4 months in 2015 was also examined for 57 GDM women. Conclusions : The mode of delivery and outcomes for the women in this cohort who remained normoglycaemic have been found to be in line with the general outcomes for all women at this hospital during this period. The women diagnosed with GDM but well controlled on diet had similar outcomes to low risk women giving birth at this maternity unit. The small sample size means that further work is needed to confirm the findings, but indicates that the option of using the birth centre may be considered a reasonable alternative for these women.