Abstract
Of 218 pregnant women with abnormal glucose tolerance by the criteria of the World Health Organization (1985) 81·2% had impaired glucose tolerance and 18·8% gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetic women were of higher parity, more obese, required insulin therapy more often, had more babies weighing >4 kg and had higher fasting plasma glucose than women with impaired glucose tolerance. Women with gestational impaired glucose tolerance were older, of higher parity, more obese and had heavier babies than pregnant women with a normal screening plasma glucose. Compared with women with impaired glucose tolerance, gestational diabetic women were more likely to have abnormality, and more severe impairment of their glucose tolerance test in the puerperium.