Variation in Fasting in Blood Sugar Levels of Pregnant and non-pregnant women attending Federal Medical centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This is a descriptive study on variation in fasting blood sugar level of pregnant and non-pregnant women attending Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Yenagoa, Nigeria in March 2008. Blood sample was taken under strict aseptic technique and tested for fasting blood sugar. The findings were analyzed using t-test and correlation method of statistics. The results showed that fasting blood sugar level for pregnant women was 3.869±0.823 while those of non-pregnant women was 3.784±0.725. The t-test (cal) and t (α) for both pregnant and non-pregnant women were 0.484 and 1.670 respectively. Fasting blood sugar level increases with increasing age and the calculated α value for pregnant and non-pregnant women were 0.77 and 0.0653 respectively, which showed a negative correlation level. However the correlation was independent of pregnancy and the r values for pregnant and non-pregnant women were 0.9976 for both groups. This research showed that no significant difference in fasting blood sugar level exist between pregnant and non-pregnant women used for this study although blood sugar levels correlated with age, weight and level of education.

Keywords: Diabetes, Fasting blood sugar, Hyperglycaemia, Hypoglycaemia.