Key factors cited by the NIH panel intheir decision-making process were thelack of clinical trial data demonstratingthe benefits of the one-step strategyand the potential negative consequencesof identifying a large group of womenwith GDM, including medicalization ofpregnancy with increased health care utilizationand costs. Moreover, screeningwith a 50-g GLT does not require fastingand is therefore easier to accomplish formanywomen.Treatmentofhigher-thresholdmaternal hyperglycemia, as identified by thetwo-step approach, reduces rates of neonatalmacrosomia, large-for-gestational-agebirths (72), and shoulder dystocia,withoutincreasing small-for-gestational-age births.ACOG currently supports the two-step approach(69) but most recently noted thatone elevated value, as opposed to two, maybe used for the diagnosis of GDM. If thisapproach is implemented, the incidence ofGDM by the two-step strategy will likely increasemarkedly. ACOG recommends eitherof two sets of diagnostic thresholds for the3-h 100-g OGTT (73,74). Each is based ondifferent mathematical conversions ofthe original recommended thresholds,which usedwhole blood and nonenzymaticmethods for glucose determination. A recentsecondary analysis of data from a randomizedclinical trial of identification andtreatment of mild GDM (75) demonstratedthat treatment was similarly beneficialin patients meeting only the lowerthresholds (73) and in thosemeeting onlythe higher thresholds (74). If the two-stepapproach is used, it would appear advantageousto use the lower diagnostic thresholdsas shown in step 2 in Table 2.6.