Does frank diabetes in first-degree relatives of a pregnant woman affect the likelihood of her developing gestational diabetes mellitus or nongestational diabetes?

OBJECTIVE: We sought to examine the associations between patterns of family histories of diabetes and a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (hGDM). STUDY DESIGN: Parous women participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (n = 4566) were classified as having hGDM only, diagnosed diabetes, or neither. Family history of diabetes was categorized as: maternal only, paternal only, biparental, and sibling only. The covariate-adjusted prevalence and odds of having hGDM were estimated. RESULTS: Compared to women without a family history of diabetes, women with a maternal (odds ratio [OR], 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-7.3), paternal (OR, 3.3; 95% CI, 1.1-10.2), or sibling (OR, 7.1; 95% CI, 1.6 -30.9) history of diabetes had greater odds of hGDM, after adjustment for age and race/ethnicity. CONCLUSION: Women with a sibling history of diabetes were more likely to have hGDM than women with other family history patterns.