Glucose Tolerance Test: How long before the test?

The article was professionally consulted with Doctor Nguyen Thi Man - Obstetrician and Gynecologist - Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology - Vinmec Danang International General Hospital.

Gestational diabetes is a big obsession for pregnant women. Diagnosis is essential to avoid possible complications.

Gestational diabetes is considered a carbohydrate intolerance that occurs during the first pregnancy. With the frequency of gestational diabetes in about 4-10% of all pregnant women.
Gestational diabetes causes complications for both mother, fetus and newborn, especially as the child grows up. For the mother, gestational diabetes can cause high blood pressure, preeclampsia, eclampsia, and type 2 diabetes after birth. For the fetus, gestational diabetes can cause more dangerous complications than the mother such as: Gigantism, stillbirth, premature birth; newborn babies can have respiratory failure, hypoglycemia, jaundice; When children grow up, they can develop obesity, type 2 diabetes, or metabolic syndrome.
Therefore, early diagnosis of gestational diabetes in pregnant women to promptly treat and avoid complications for both mother and child is very important and necessary. One of the commonly used methods to diagnose prediabetes and diabetes is the glucose tolerance test.

Pregnant women will have a random fasting blood glucose, HbA1c or blood glucose test to screen for clinical diabetes, gestational diabetes or normal.

A gestational glucose tolerance test may be indicated in all pregnant women or in women at high risk of gestational diabetes with the following characteristics:
Being obese: body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 Age over 25 years old Have a family history of diabetes Have a personal history of gestational diabetes in a previous pregnancy. Previously delivered a baby weighing more than 4.1 kg or a stillbirth of unknown cause.

Instruct the patient to eat normally 3 days before. Rest at least 30 minutes before the test The test is done in the morning after fasting for 10-12 hours. Take blood for fasting blood sugar test and then drink 75g Glucose and test after 1h, 2h. Oral glucose tolerance test is one of the annual techniques at Vinmec. This is a simple, easy to do, inexpensive and economical technique for the patient because the patient is completely outpatient. Glucose test helps to detect gestational diabetes very early for early counseling and treatment to prevent dangerous pregnancy complications such as stillbirth, premature delivery and high specificity.

The advantages of performing the Glucose test at Vinmec include:
Vinmec Hospital's Department of Biochemistry is equipped with a modern and high-precision testing system. The team of doctors and nurses with extensive experience in diagnosing and treating Vinmec's disease is equipped with an automatic biochemical testing machine system AU 680, AU 480 and very high accuracy. Glucose tolerance test applies to pregnant women from 24 to 28 weeks who have not been screened for gestational diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance.