TUESDAY, May 12, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Few women with postpartum-onset diabetes meet recommended hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) monitoring guidelines, according to a study published online April 30 in the BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care.
Natalie A. Boychuk, from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City, and colleagues conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study involving 5,590 women who delivered in New York City between 2009 and 2016 and experienced postpartum-onset diabetes to examine the association between social determinants of health and access to HbA1c monitoring.
The researchers found that during the study period, few women received all biannual recommended follow-up tests (13.0 percent). Compared with non-Hispanic White women, non-Hispanic Black women were more likely to receive their first follow-up test later (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.90; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.80 to 1.00) and had a lower rate of testing over three years (adjusted rate ratio, 0.92; 95 percent CI, 0.84 to 0.99). A higher hazard of an earlier first follow-up and higher rates of testing were experienced by women insured by Medicaid at delivery compared with those with private or other insurance (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.14 [95 percent CI, 1.06 to 1.22]; adjusted rate ratio, 1.09 [95 percent CI, 1.03 to 1.15]). Lower rates of testing and a longer time to first HbA1c test were seen for women with more children compared with those with no prior children.
"Our study provides first-of-its-kind evidence on the relationship between social determinants of health and recommended A1C monitoring among postpartum women with newly diagnosed diabetes," Boychuk said in a statement. "Our findings reveal disparities by race and ethnicity, insurance, and parity -- and show that most women are not meeting recommended testing intervals."
