Comparing the detection rate of postpartum diabetes in early and 4–12 week postpartum screening tests in women with gestational diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is one of the critical risk factors for diabetes mellitus (DM). An early postpartum test done in the first few postpartum days can increase the screening rate in women with GDM. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to combine and analyze data from different studies reporting the detection rate of postpartum diabetes in early and 4–12 week postpartum screening tests in women with GDM. ProQuest, Web of Science, EMBASE, PubMed, Cochrane, and Scopus were searched for English articles from January 1985 to January 2021. Two independent reviewers selected the eligible studies, and the outcomes of interest were extracted. The quality of studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for diagnostic test accuracy studies. Sensitivity and specificity, negative likelihood ratio (NLR), and positive likelihood ratio (PLR) were calculated for the early postpartum oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Of 1944 initially identified articles, four studies were included. The sensitivity and specificity of the early test were 74% and 56%, respectively, and the PLR and NLR were calculated as 1.7 and 0.4, respectively. The sensitivity of the early test was higher than the specificity. Based on this sensitivity and specificity, normal cases could be distinguished from abnormal cases, including diabetes and glucose intolerance. Early postpartum OGTT can be advised before hospital discharge. Early testing is a practical option in patients with GDM. Further studies are required to evaluate the early test detection rate for DM and glucose intolerance separately.

Keywords

• Gestational diabetes mellitus
• Screening
• Glucose tolerance testing
• Systematic review