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Gestational diabetes, in which blood glucose levels are elevated above normal during pregnancy, occurs in about 2 to 5 percent of all American pregnant women. Perinatal problems such as macrosomia (large body size) and neonatal hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) are higher in babies born to women with gestational diabetes. Although blood glucose levels generally return to normal after childbirth, an increased risk of developing gestational diabetes in future pregnancies remains. In addition, studies show that many women with gestational diabetes will develop type 2 diabetes later in life.

The prevalence of gestational diabetes in certain groups of American Indians and Alaska Natives is as follows:

• 14.5 percent of pregnancies in Zuni Indians
• 3.4 percent of deliveries in Navajo Indians
• 5.8 percent of deliveries in Yup'ik Eskimos¹

Followup studies of American Indian women with gestational diabetes found a high risk of developing subsequent diabetes: 27.5 percent of Pima Indian women developed diabetes within 4 to 8 years, and 30 percent of Zuni Indian women developed diabetes within 6 months to 9 years after pregnancy.¹

Longitudinal studies of diabetes in Pima Indians have shown that adult offspring of women with diabetes during pregnancy have significantly higher rates of diabetes than adult offspring of women without diabetes, showing the possible effect of the diabetic intrauterine environment. In fact, 45 percent of adult offspring of Pima Indian women who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes predating pregnancy developed diabetes by age 20 to 24. In comparison, only 1.4 percent of adult offspring of women without diabetes during pregnancy went on to develop diabetes by age 24.¹⁶ The strongest single risk factor for diabetes in Pima children was exposure to diabetes in utero.³

source: http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/americanindian/index.htm