# Comparing Glycemic Profiles in Pregnancy and Maternal and Child Health Outcomes

> **NIH NIH U01** · WOMEN AND INFANTS HOSPITAL-RHODE ISLAND · 2024 · $712,315

## Abstract

Four million women undergo a 50 gram glucose tolerance test at 24-28 weeks gestation annually in the United
States. This universal screen for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is intended to improve health and reduce
costs by allowing for treatments that will reduce the known complications associated with GDM. However, as
currently screened for, diagnosed, and treated, offspring born to women with GDM are still at much higher risk
for childhood obesity compared to the offspring of women without GDM. These female children born to women
with GDM are more likely to become obese adults and because GDM risk is dependent on maternal body
mass index, these women will be more likely to have GDM themselves when they become pregnant. This
cycle of GDM leading to increasingly obese future generations can only be broken with a better
understanding of the maternal glycemic profile during gestation so that the timing and types of
dysglycemia most associated with pregnancy complications, including childhood obesity, can be
identified. The overall objective of this application is to leverage Brown University/Women & Infants Hospital's
considerable pregnancy research infrastructure, high rates of early prenatal care, large delivery volume, and
track record of successful clinical research in diabetes in pregnancy to ensure this collaborative cohort study
investigating maternal glycemia in pregnancy is a success. Brown University/Women & Infants Hospital will
enroll at least 400 women (of the 2000 total enrollment) in the first trimester of pregnancy and follow them and
their offspring until the children are two years of age. While the final aims will be determined by a steering
committee of all participating centers, the following specific aims are proposed: 1) Utilize continuous glucose
monitoring (CGM) at 5 time points during gestation (first trimester, early second trimester, 24-28
weeks, third trimester, and post-partum) to better understand critical values and time periods when
dysglycemia is associated with pregnancy, and neonatal or early childhood complications, including
adiposity and body mass index z-score >85th percentile at 2 years of life; 2) create a biobank of
maternal serum at the 5 time points that will be used to compare traditional glucose tests (fasting,
glycosylated hemoglobin, and glucose challenge) to CGM results to determine optimal screen-positive
cut-offs; 3) use decision modeling to assess the costs and effects to US health care of any changes to
the timing or modality of GDM testing in pregnancy. If successful, this project will result in a more
complete understanding of glycemic changes over gestation, identify critical measures and gestational age
windows most associated with morbidity, and determine the optimal screening test to identify clinically
significant dysglycemia. This will allow glucose testing in pregnancy to be re-designed to achieve both a
healthier next generation and fiscal savings.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10919226
- **Project number:** 5U01DK123783-05
- **Recipient organization:** WOMEN AND INFANTS HOSPITAL-RHODE ISLAND
- **Principal Investigator:** ERIKA F WERNER
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $712,315
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-20 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10919226

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10919226, Comparing Glycemic Profiles in Pregnancy and Maternal and Child Health Outcomes (5U01DK123783-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-29 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10919226. Licensed CC0.

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