2005 - National Women's Hospital - Auckland District Health Board

4.4.1 Demographics of women with diabetes
Of women with GDM and type 2 diabetes, 38.2% and 38.5% respectively are over
the age of 35 years compared with 22.1% of the rest of the delivery population.
Almost 12% of women who delivered at National Women’s over the age of 40 years
had underlying type 2 diabetes or GDM.
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
%
Type 1 Type 2 GDM
NZ European Maori Pacific Asian Indian Other
Figure 15: Incidence of diabetes by ethnic group 2005
51
European
The ethnicity of women with type 1 diabetes is predominantly European in contrast to
women with GDM or type 2 diabetes, who are more likely to be Pacific Island
Polynesians or Indian or Asian women.
The graph above, at first glance, seems to suggest that the incidence of GDM varies
greatly by ethnic group. However, it also reflects different rates of screening. As
highlighted in the 2004 Annual Report, screening for GDM in Maori and Pacific Island
women is likely to be inadequate, as we would expect higher rates of GDM in
populations with higher rates of type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately, this is still a problem,
but we hope this will improve with increasing education about the benefits of
identifying GDM.
Over 10% of Indian women are diagnosed with GDM. The population is known to be
at increased risk, partly because they are more insulin resistant at lower BMIs than
European and Polynesian populations. This relates to differences in body
composition, with increased central fat mass and lower muscle mass at any given
BMI.
This year, some data are available on the booking weight of women attending
diabetes clinic. Unfortunately, due to differences in weights between different
ethnicities, absolute values are not meaningful. However, it appears that weights are
increasing in these populations of GDMs and type 2 diabetics. If complete weight
and height data are available, we intend to evaluate BMI data for different ethnic
groups.
Other