Gestational diabetes during pregnancy could indicate
heart ailments later in life
According
to a new study, women who have had a history of gestational diabetes are
likelier to have heart ailments later in life as compared to women who don’t
have a history of gestational diabetes.
Erica P.
Gunderson, study lead author and senior research scientist in the Kaiser
Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., said that their study shows
that just having a history of gestational diabetes elevates a woman’s risk of
developing early atherosclerosis before she develops type 2 diabetes or
metabolic syndrome.
Pregnancy has
been under-recognized as an important time period that can signal a woman’s greater
risk for future heart disease and this signal is revealed by
gestational diabetes, Gunderson said. Gestational diabetes, a condition of
elevated blood sugar during pregnancy, usually disappears after the pregnancy.
It is managed with meal planning, activity and sometimes insulin or other
medications. In the 20-year study, researchers assessed risk factors for heart
disease before pregnancy among 898 women, 18 to 30 years old, who later had one
or more births. The women were periodically tested for diabetes and metabolic
conditions before and after their pregnancies. Using ultrasound, researchers
measured the thickness of the walls of participants’ carotid artery, which
circulates blood to the neck and face. Carotid artery wall thickness is an
early measure of atherosclerosis — plaque build-up in arteries — and predicts
heart attack and stroke in women. The artery’s thickness was measured on
average 12 years after pregnancy. Researchers found a larger average carotid
artery wall thickness in study participants with a history of gestational
diabetes who did not develop diabetes or metabolic syndrome during the 20-year
follow-up compared to those who never experienced gestational diabetes. The
difference was not attributed to obesity or other risk factors for heart
disease that were measured before pregnancy. (Read: Will a course on gestational diabetes help increase awareness?)
It’s important
to recognize reproductive characteristics that may contribute to disease risk
in women, Gunderson added. The study is published in the Journal of the American
Heart Association.
Source: http://health.india.com
14.03.2014
Medical Fair India 2014 to be held
March 14-16 in Mumbai
An international trade fair highlighting the growth
potential of India’s $100 billion healthcare sector will begin in Mumbai
Friday. More than 450 exhibitors from 20 countries and over 8,000 visitors from
22 countries are expected to take part in the trade fair, organisers said.
The 20th Medical Fair India 2014 (MFI 2014), the country’s
oldest and largest international trade exhibition and conference on
diagnostics, medical equipment and technology, will be held March 14-16, at
Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon. Jointly organized by Germany’s Messe
Düsseldorf and its Indian subsidiary, the expo would serve as a platform for
exchange of ideas on current issues concerning the sector.
With rising incomes and growing literacy, healthcare
spending in India is expected to rise by 12 percent per annum. An estimate
suggests that by 2017 healthcare spending could contribute 9 percent of GDP and
employ around 10 million people. The healthcare sector is growing at a rate of
about 20 percent annually and will be worth $100 billion by 2015 end.
The primary growth areas are the medical equipment segment,
teleradiology or a means of electronic transmission of radiological images such
as X-rays, CTs and MRIs from one location to another for the purposes of
interpretation and/or consultation, healthcare BPOs and pathology outsourcing
to name a few.
Source: http://health.india.com
14.03.2014
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