text_1: Blood test may identify gestational diabetes risk in first trimester
text_2: This release accurately describes an observational study using second-hand data from another study  which found that a relatively inexpensive blood test (HbA1c or A1C for short), commonly used to monitor diabetes, might help identify women at risk for getting gestational diabetes as early as the 10th week of pregnancy. The release does a good job of explaining that the disorder carries risks — including the development of adult type 2 diabetes long after birth — for both pregnant women and their newborns. The release notes that the study does not scientifically demonstrate that measuring HbA1c levels in early pregnancy can in fact determine a woman’s later risk for gestational diabetes. On the down side, the release doesn’t mention what it would cost in dollars or potential over treatment to screen every women in the early weeks of pregnancy;  offers no information about the overall prevalence and incidence of gestational diabetes or any details about the women whose records were studied; and waits until the last sentence to note that there also is no firm evidence that lowering HbA1c levels with diet and exercise before or in early pregnancy will actually reduce risk for gestational diabetes. Public health and obstetrical associations estimate that 1 to 15% of all pregnant women in the U.S. develop gestational diabetes and no doubt a greater percentage worries they might. There are potentially serious health consequences to gestational diabetes for mother and child and although some mothers at higher than usual risk — for example, women with obesity — are screened early, most women have a screening blood glucose test later in pregnancy. Glucose and insulin levels are complicated to interpret later in pregnancy. The notion that earlier detection with a test that measures average  glucose levels over time might lead to lowered rates of the disorder is seductive. But it’s also true that such a scenario is only speculation at this time. As a consequence, news releases about this topic are of fairly wide interest, but must be careful not to over promise.