Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Jul 25, 2016; 7(14): 279-289
Published online Jul 25, 2016. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v7.i14.279
Gestational diabetes mellitus: Screening with fasting plasma glucose
Mukesh M Agarwal
Mukesh M Agarwal, Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, UAE University, PO Box 17666, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
Author contributions: Agarwal MM did the literature search, selected the relevant studies and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Agarwal MM declares no conflict of interest related to this publication.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Mukesh M Agarwal, MD, FCAP, Professor, Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, UAE University, Khalifa Bin Zayed Street, Tawam Hospital Campus, PO Box 17666, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. magarwal7@gmail.com
Telephone: +971-3-7672000 Fax: +971-3-7671966
Received: April 3, 2016
Peer-review started: April 6, 2016
First decision: May 17, 2016
Revised: May 30, 2016
Accepted: June 27, 2016
Article in press: June 29, 2016
Published online: July 25, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: The algorithms for the screening and diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), advocated by various expert panels, are demanding for both the caregiver and the care-receiver: The widely accepted approach of screening all pregnant women with the oral glucose tolerance test is time-consuming, expensive and unfeasible in most countries. Over three decades of research, summarized in this review, suggests that the fasting plasma glucose can simplify the approach to GDM - only if all the limitations of using it are clearly understood.