Brief report Trends in deliveries in women with gestational diabetes in Spain, 2001–2008 Ana Lopez-de-Andres *, Pilar Carrasco-Garrido, A ´ ngel Gil-de-Miguel, Valentı ´n Hernandez-Barrera, Rodrigo Jime ´ nez-Garcı ´a Preventive Medicine and Public Health Teaching and Research Unit, Health Sciences Faculty, Rey Juan Carlos University, Avda de Atenas s/n, Alcorco ´ n 28922 Madrid, Spain 1. Introduction Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) affects between 2 and 5% of pregnant women [1,2]. In recent years there has been a reported increased trend in the prevalence of GDM [1–3]. GDM is associated with increased risk of perinatal morbidity, maternal trauma, preeclampsia and eclampsia, and operative deliveries [4]. Epidemiological research suggests that women who have GDM have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes later in life [5]. While the studies referenced and others have found an increase in rate of pregnancy and newborn complications associated with GDM, few have analyzed the cost and the national burden associated with GDM [6]. The purpose of this study was to examine trends in the proportion of deliveries with GDM during the period of 2001– 2008 in Spain. The characteristics and costs of delivery hospitalization among women with GDM are also analyzed and compared with women without GDM. 2. Methods Hospital discharge data were obtained from the Spanish Minimum Basic Data Set [7]. We selected women 15–44 years of age with a delivery hospitalization defined by Diagnostic Related Groups (GRD) codes (370–375) listed anywhere on the discharge record. We identified maternal hospital discharges for pregnancies complicated by GDM that resulted in the labour and delivery of an infant using ICD-9-CM code 648.8. We excluded discharge diagnoses with a code of pre-gestational diabetes mellitus (ICD-9-CM, 250.0x). diabetes research and clinical practice 91 (2011) e 27– e 29 article info Article history: Received 16 July 2010 Received in revised form 29 September 2010 Accepted 4 October 2010 Published on line 29 October 2010 Keywords: Gestational diabetes Delivery Hospitalization abstract We examined trends and characteristics of deliveries in women with gestational diabetes in Spain from 2001 to 2008. There were 101,643 deliveries with gestational diabetes among 2,782,369 delivery discharges (3.6%) with no increase over time. Rate of caesarean section increased (19–24.2%) and length of stay decreased. # 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 91 4888623; fax: +34 91 4888848. E-mail address: ana.lopez@urjc.es (A. Lopez-de-Andres). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/diabres 0168-8227/$ – see front matter # 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2010.10.005