• Posted July 18, 2025

Diabetic Women Should Be Asked About Desire For Kids At Every Doctor's Visit, Guidelines Say

Doctors should ask diabetic women at every visit about their intention to have a child, to make sure they get the appropriate care prior to conception, new guidelines say.

This will help avoid miscarriages and birth defects among women who have diabetes before pregnancy, the authors write in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

“We developed these guidelines as diabetes rates are rising among women of reproductive age and very few women with diabetes receive proper preconception care,” lead author Dr. Jennifer Wyckoff, an endocrinologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said in a news release.

“In addition to preconception planning, the guideline discusses advances in diabetes technology, delivery timing, medications and diet,” she said.

The joint guideline was issued by the Endocrine Society and the European Society of Endocrinology, and published this week. Its suggestions include:

• Asking all diabetic women of childbearing age about their intent to conceive — and posing the question at every doctor’s visit, be it related to their reproductive, diabetic or normal care.

• Timing delivery prior to 39 weeks for pregnant women with diabetes, as the risks associated with continued pregnancy might outweigh those of early delivery.

• Discontinuing use of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs prior to pregnancy.

• Avoiding the use of metformin in pregnant women  who are already on insulin.

• Using hybrid closed-loop insulin pumps with continuous glucose monitoring for pregnant women with type 1 diabetes.

• Engaging in family planning and using contraception until a woman with diabetes is ready to become pregnant.

The team crafted these recommendations based on evidence from randomized controlled trials, researcher Dr. Annunziata Lapolla, a diabetes specialist at the University of Padova in Italy, said in background notes.

“Given the increase in type 2 diabetes associated with obesity worldwide and women with this pathology who become pregnant, these recommendations have also addressed the issues related to correct nutrition and therapeutic approach in such women,” Lapolla added.

Other groups signing on to the guidelines include the American Diabetes Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, The International Association of the Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists, and the American Pharmacists Association.

More information

The National Institutes of Health has more on pregnancy among women with diabetes.

SOURCE: Endocrine Society, news release, July 10, 2025