Ethnic Korean and Chinese women are more likely to suffer from gestational diabetes mellitus, a diabetic disease that only prevails during pregnancies, than other races, medical Web site EurekAlert! said, quoting a group of American researchers.

According to a Kaiser Permanente study of 16, 757 women in Hawaii, more than 10 percent of women of Chinese and Korean heritage may be at risk of developing diabetes, which is about one-third higher than average and more than double that of Caucasian and African-American women.

Untreated gestational diabetes mellitus can cause various complications, including early delivery or the need for a caesarian section.

Some experts say it could also cause the child to develop obesity later in life.

After the researcher divided Asians into five ethnic sub groups, it was found that Korean and Chinese women had the highest risk, and Japanese and Vietnamese women had relatively low chances of contracting the disease.

Lead author Kathryn Pedula, a researcher at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, said, "This study has important implications for the diagnosis and treatment of gestational diabetes. All pregnant women and their caregivers need to be educated about gestational diabetes, but it is especially important for women in these ethnic groups at higher risk."

The study involved 16,757 women aged 13 to 39, who gave birth under the Kaiser Permanente Health Plan in Hawaii between 1995 and 2003. Because some had more than one child during that time, the total number of pregnancies was 22,110. Researchers obtained ethnic classification from the mothers' birth certificates on file with the Hawaii Department of Health.

Overall, more than 20 percent of women in the study had elevated glucose levels, and 6.7 percent of women met the Carpenter and Coustan threshold for gestational diabetes.

Ethnicities categorized in the study include Caucasian, native-American and African-American, among others.

The findings were published in the December issue of the magazine "The Ethnicity and Disease."

Doctors here, too, have warned of gestational diabetes mellitus.

Dr. Han Dong-up of Bundang Cheil Women's Hospital told The Korea Times that the disease easily exhausts pregnant women and they should watch their health all the way through the pregnancy.

"The disease 'fades away' once the pregnancy is over, but in very rare cases, it lingers for quite a long time," he said.