Gestational diabetes rose every single year in the United States since 2016, putting both mother and baby at risk during these pregnancies, a new study says.

The condition increased by 36% between 2016 and 2024, increasing from 58 to 79 cases for every 1,000 births, researchers reported Dec. 29 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

"Gestational diabetes has been persistently increasing for more than 10 years, which means whatever we have been trying to do to address diabetes in pregnancy has not been working," senior researcher Dr. Nilay Shah said in a news release. Shah is an assistant professor of cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Gestational diabetes occurs when a pregnant woman’s blood sugar levels spike, usually around the 24th week of pregnancy, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The condition carries immediate risks to a pregnancy and also increases the future chance of diabetes and heart disease for both mother and child, researchers said in background notes.

For the new study, researchers analyzed data on live births in the U.S. using birth certificates filed with the National Centers for Health Statistics.

Shah said the steady increase in cases of gestational diabetes likely reflects overall worse health among young Americans.

"The health of young adults has been persistently worsening — less healthful diets, less exercise, more obesity," Shah said. "These trends likely underlie why the rates of diabetes during pregnancy have gone up."

The results also indicated that certain ethnic and racial groups had a higher risk of gestational diabetes. Records show that in 2024, for every 1,000 births there were:

• 137 cases of gestational diabetes among American Indian/Alaska Native women

• 131 cases among Asian women

• 126 cases among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander women

• 85 cases among Hispanic women

• 71 cases among white women

• 67 cases among Black women

"We saw a lot of variation within Asian and Hispanic groups, which often gets overlooked in research," lead researcher Emily Lam, a third-year medical student at Northwestern University, said in a news release.

Shah, meanwhile, said the reasons underlying the different rates are an important area for further study.

"These data clearly show that we are not doing enough to support the health of the U.S. population, especially young women before and during pregnancy," Shah said. "Public health and policy interventions should focus on helping all people access high-quality care and have the time and means to maintain healthful behaviors."