My practitioner says I need a glucose screen. Why?
Most healthcare practitioners routinely recommend a glucose screening test (also called a glucose challenge test or GCT) between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy to check for gestational diabetes, a high blood sugar condition that some women get during pregnancy.
Like any screening test, this one won't give you a diagnosis — it's designed to identify as many women as possible who may have a problem and need more testing to find out. So a positive result doesn't mean that you have gestational diabetes. In fact, only about a third of women who test positive on the glucose screen actually have the condition. To find out if you're one of them, you'll have to undergo a longer, more definitive exam called a glucose tolerance test (GTT).
Between 2 and 5 percent of expectant mothers develop gestational diabetes, making it one of the most common health problems during pregnancy. And because the condition rarely causes any symptoms, testing is the only way to find out if you have it.
Your practitioner may want you to be screened earlier than 24 weeks if a routine urine test shows a high amount of sugar in the urine or if you're considered at high risk. If the results are normal, you'll be screened again at 24 to 28 weeks.
Of course, if were already diagnosed with diabetes before pregnancy, you won't need to be screened. Instead, you'll continue to work with your practitioner to manage your condition during your pregnancy.
Like any screening test, this one won't give you a diagnosis — it's designed to identify as many women as possible who may have a problem and need more testing to find out. So a positive result doesn't mean that you have gestational diabetes. In fact, only about a third of women who test positive on the glucose screen actually have the condition. To find out if you're one of them, you'll have to undergo a longer, more definitive exam called a glucose tolerance test (GTT).
Between 2 and 5 percent of expectant mothers develop gestational diabetes, making it one of the most common health problems during pregnancy. And because the condition rarely causes any symptoms, testing is the only way to find out if you have it.
Your practitioner may want you to be screened earlier than 24 weeks if a routine urine test shows a high amount of sugar in the urine or if you're considered at high risk. If the results are normal, you'll be screened again at 24 to 28 weeks.
Of course, if were already diagnosed with diabetes before pregnancy, you won't need to be screened. Instead, you'll continue to work with your practitioner to manage your condition during your pregnancy.
More info : Glucose screening and glucose tolerance tests

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