SWIFT: Study of Women, Infant Feeding and Type 2 Diabetes After GDM Pregnancy

Study Summary

The overall goal of the Study of Women, Infant Feeding and Type 2 Diabetes after GDM pregnancy (SWIFT) is to determine the relation of longer and more intensive lactation, as compared to formula feeding, on progression to incident type 2 diabetes mellitus among women within several years following delivery of a GDM pregnancy. The initial study enrolled women with recent GDM at 6 to 9 weeks post-delivery to reclassify oral glucose tolerance and conduct subsequent testing of glucose tolerance to ascertain progression to overt diabetes up to two years later. Research methods were utilized to assess lactation intensity and duration quantitatively and to evaluate incidence rates of diabetes, as well as changes in blood glucose levels, insulin resistance, body weight, waist circumference, and overall adiposity from baseline and up to several years later. SWIFT is a prospective, observational cohort study of 1,035 women recruited during pregnancy who were diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) via Carpenter and Coustan criteria and enrolled into the research study. We assessed the natural history of progression to prediabetes and type 2 diabetes from early postpartum for a racially and ethnically diverse cohort of women with GDM (75% minority) at high-risk for developing overt diabetes within 5-10 years post-delivery.

Primary Outcome

Two-hour 75 gram oral glucose tolerance test; fasting plasma and 2-hour post-load plasma samples analyzed for glucose and insulin concentrations.

Conditions Studied

Study Locations (1)