Pattern of glucose intolerance among pregnant women with unexplained IUFD

Purpose To determine the possible causes for IUFD and to investigate for the pattern of glucose intolerance as a cause of unexplained IUFD among pregnant women. Methods For one year, 420 pregnant women with IUFD at or after the 28th week of pregnancy and another 200 women carrying normal looking fetuses were recruited as a control group. Random venous samples and HbA1c were tested to assess the glucose control in the studied women. Results Of the studied women, 68.09% had unexplained cause for their IUFD. Other causes for IUFD included Hypertensive disease with pregnancy (6.9%), accidental hemorrhage (5.5%), and small for gestational age (11.4%). Overt DM was diagnosed at 1.7%. Women who had unexplained IUFD showed higher HbA1c and Random Blood Sugar (RBS) than control group. 18% of women carrying unexplained IUFD and had normal RBS showed abnormally high HbA1c level. Conclusions Unexplained IUFD represented the major category of IUFD (68.09%). Laboratory indices of diabetes mellitus are more prevalent in this category of patients. Accordingly, screening for diabetes is recommended for these women. However, the use of RBS alone is not sufficient to exclude poor metabolic control. HbA1c may be a better alternative.