Main institution:
Tianjin Women and Children’s Health Centre

Other institutions:
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Pennington Biomedical Research Centre, USA

Principal investigator:
Huiguang Tian

Other investigators:
Xilin Yang; Fuxia Zhang; Gang Hu; Zhijie Yu; Ling Dong; Hong Zhang

Location of the project:
Tianjin, China

Amount allocated:
USD 393,812

Date:
July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2013

Objectives:
We established a provincial antenatal care network to screen for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in Tianjin 10 years ago but the perinatal management of women with GDM remains suboptimal. Two large randomized trials have confirmed the benefits of tight control of hyperglycaemia on maternal health and foetal outcomes. In this proposal, we aim to translate a proven GDM-care protocol to daily practice using a shared care model within the three-tier antenatal care system in Tianjin, with a randomized design. The primary outcome is reduced incidence of deliveries of babies with birth weight ≥ 4500 grams. The secondary outcomes are reduced pregnancy-induced hypertension and macrosomia.

Results to date (November 2012):

Article

• Diabetes Voice, June 2011 "Can shared care improve outcomes in women with gestational diabetes?" [2]

Presentation

• 21st World Diabetes Congress, Dubai, December 2011

BRIDGES (Bringing Research in Diabetes to Global Environments and Systems) is a programme initiated by the International Diabetes Federation [3], and supported by an educational grant from Lilly Diabetes.