Across England's maternity wards, a condition once considered relatively rare has quietly become a defining feature of modern pregnancy: one in eight mothers now receives a gestational diabetes diagnosis, a sixty percent rise in just five years. The surge is not evenly distributed — it falls hardest on Asian women, those living in deprivation, and those navigating pregnancy later in life, revealing how metabolic risk and social inequality are deeply intertwined. Researchers warn that this is not merely a story about pregnancy, but about the long arc of women's health, as gestational diabetes p
Gestational diabetes diagnoses surge 60% in England, hitting 1 in 8 mothers
Gestational diabetes increases risks of preterm birth, emergency Caesarean sections, and babies born with abnormal sizes, with disproportionate impact on ethnic minority and economically disadvantaged mothers.