Diabetes 'linked to age and BMI'

While age and weight have long been established as risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes – the strain of the condition which is most commonly associated with elderly people – this is an important step in understanding diabetes in pregnant women.

It also, once again, highlights the risk of developing types of diabetes as you age.

The research was published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, after being conducted by the Academic Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Dr Makrina Savvidou, consultant in Obstetrics and Fetal Medicine, commented: "This new research shows that maternal age, alone and in correlation with the maternal racial origin, may also be a significant factor contributing to the development of gestational diabetes.

"It is important that clinicians are aware of all the contributing factors as gestational diabetes can result in adverse perinatal outcomes."

According to NHS Choices, it is estimated that gestational diabetes affects up to 14 per cent of pregnant women in the UK.

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