In order to assess the clinical consequences of gestational diabetes in the index pregnancy, a group of patients with positive oral glucose challenge test and their matched controls have been closely followed up. No differences in perinatal outcome have been pointed out, except for the higher rate (p < 0.01) among diabetic patients of pre term delivery and pregnancy-induced hypertension. The prevalence of the latter has shown no relationship to maternal obesity. In view of these data, the future risk of cardiovascular disease of this cohort of patients needs to be assessed with a follow-up study.