"NIH analysis suggests early screening could allow for lifestyle changes before condition develops.    A blood test conducted as early as the th week of pregnancy may help identify women at risk for gestational diabetes a pregnancyrelated condition that poses potentially serious health risks for mothers and infants according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. The study appears in Scientific Reports. Gestational diabetes https occurs only in pregnancy and results when the level of blood sugar or glucose rises too high. Gestational diabetes increases the mothers chances for high blood pressure disorders of pregnancy and the need for cesarean delivery and the risk for cardiovascular disease and type  diabetes later in life. For infants gestational diabetes increases the risk for large birth size. Unless they have a known risk factor such as obesity women typically are screened https for gestational diabetes between  and  weeks of pregnancy. In the current study researchers evaluated whether the HbAc test also called the AC test https commonly used to diagnose type  diabetes could identify signs of gestational diabetes in the first trimester of pregnancy. The test approximates the average blood glucose levels over the previous  or  months based on the amount of glucose that has accumulated on the surface of red blood cells. According to the authors comparatively few studies have examined whether the HbAc test could help identify the risk for gestational diabetes and these studies have been limited to women already at high risk for the condition. The test is not currently recommended to diagnose gestational diabetes at any point in pregnancy. The researchers analyzed records from the NICHD Fetal Growth Study https a large observational study that recruited more than  lowrisk pregnant women from  U.S. clinical sites between  and . The researchers compared HbAc test results from  women who later developed gestational diabetes to test results from  women who did not develop the condition. Most of the women had tests at four intervals during pregnancy early weeks  middle weeks  and  and late weeks . Women who went on to develop gestational diabetes had higher HbAc levels an average of . percent compared to those without gestational diabetes an average HbAc level of . percent. Each . percent increase in HbAc above . percent in early pregnancy was associated with a percent higher risk for gestational diabetes. In middle pregnancy HbAc levels declined for both groups. However HbAc levels increased in the final third of pregnancy which is consistent with the decrease in sensitivity to insulin that often occurs during this time period. Our results suggest that the HbAC test potentially could help identify women at risk for gestational diabetes early in pregnancy when lifestyle changes may be more effective in reducing their risk said the studys senior author Cuilin Zhang Ph.D. of the Epidemiology Branch at NIHs Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Exercise and a healthy diet https may lower blood glucose levels during pregnancy. If these measures are not successful physicians may prescribe insulin https to bring blood glucose under control. The authors noted that further studies are needed to confirm whether measuring HbAc levels in early pregnancy could determine a womans later risk for gestational diabetes. Similarly research is needed to determine whether lowering HbAc with lifestyle changes either in early pregnancy or before pregnancy could reduce the risk for the condition. About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development NICHD NICHD conducts and supports research in the United States and throughout the world on fetal infant and child development maternal child and family health reproductive biology and population issues and medical rehabilitation. For more information visit https About the National Institutes of Health NIH NIH the nations medical research agency includes  Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic clinical and translational medical research and is investigating the causes treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs visit  https"