Volume 05 · Issue 01 · 2023

Hyperglycemia is one of the most common complications women encounter during pregnancy, and is associated with a higher incidence of short- and long-term health risks for both the mother and offspring. In 2022, the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Committee of the Chinese Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chinese Medicine Association, worked with the Chinese Society of Perinatal Medicine and the Professional Committee of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus of the Chinese Maternal and Child Health Association to update the Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of hyperglycemia in pregnancy in China. The aim was to further standardize the management of hyperglycemia in pregnancy from the aspects of screening, diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, and prevention of gestational diabetes mellitus, and consequently to further improve the health of mother and child.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a well-established risk factor for fetal macrosomia. A significant number of patients with GDM also suffer from obesity, a factor associated with fetal macrosomia. An important question is whether GDM is independently associated with fetal macrosomia, or whether this relationship is merely the result of maternal obesity acting as a confounder. In this review of the literature, we attempt to further elucidate the relationship between GDM, maternal obesity, and fetal macrosomia.

The effects of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) on offspring include macrosomia, hypoglycemia, respiratory distress syndrome, cardiovascular disease, neural and mental injury, etc. The effects of GDM on the health status of offspring are sustained although pregnancy has ended. It has been proposed that fetal reprogramming causes long-term consequences to metabolic health in offspring. An intrauterine high-glucose environment may lead to changes in the multi-differentiation proficiency of intracorporal stem cells, showing decreased proliferation and osteogenic ability, increased adipogenic ability, accelerated apoptosis, and occurrence of premature failure. This environment also reduces the mobilization of bone marrow stem cells, whereas it increases that of medullary cells. This results in pro-inflammatory conditions and sustained inflammation in the body, thereby increasing the risk of obesity, cardiovascular and neurological disorders, and metabolic abnormalities. Stem cells derived from the amniotic membrane, umbilical cord, or placenta may be a reliable predictor of the long-term effects of GDM on offspring. The levels of blood glucose during pregnancy should be effectively controlled to reduce harm to the neonate.

Gut microbiota is symbiotic and interdependent with human body. Intestinal probiotics are colonized in the human gastrointestinal tract, which can improve the host intestinal microenvironment and enhance the intestinal function and immune function of the human body. A small number of opportunistic pathogens exist in the intestinal tract. Once the number of pathogens exceeds the threshold of intestinal tolerance, the intestinal micro-ecological balance can be destroyed, and various diseases may thus develop. Pregnancy is a special status with different physiologic changing stages. In the meanwhile, alterations in the gut microbiome populations occur, which can promote the differentiation, development, and maturation of fetal organs by affecting maternal metabolism. Compared with normal pregnant women, great changes in the gastrointestinal function and gut microbiome may take place in pregnant women with pregnancy-related complications, in which these changes include the number, species, and intestinal translocation. The composition of the maternal gut microbiome could contribute to pregnancy and obstetric outcomes, and long-term health of mother and child. The relationships of pregnancy to gut microbiome have attracted an increasing attention in recent years. This article will provide a summary review of the research studies of gut microbiome in normal pregnant women versus abnormal pregnancy women with complications.

Gastric carcinoma is extremely rare in pregnancy and the prognosis for this malignancy tends to be dismal. We herein describe a case of gastric cancer in pregnancy to alert clinicians to this rare possibility. A 29-year-old woman developed abdominal spastic pain and diarrhea during the 26 weeks of gestation and her condition was confusing and hard to recognize. The patient was initially misdiagnosed as enterogastritis and inflammatory intestinal obstruction and was finally confirmed by exploratory laparotomy with intestinal and peritoneum metastases. Because the disease was not detected early enough and progressed rapidly, the pregnancy was terminated by cesarean section at 30 weeks of gestation, and then followed by systemic chemotherapy, but eventually succumbed to the lethal pneumonia. Therefore, it is of great significance to alert clinicians to note this rare possibility and to consider the differential diagnosis of this disease in pregnant women with a long course of gastrointestinal symptoms that cannot be explained by pregnancy alone, and cancer should be suspected and tested with sophisticated diagnostic procedures.