Yoshifumi Kasuga
I attended the PSANZ+FAOPS 2026 conference held in Perth, Australia. It was my first visit to Perth, and I found it to be a beautiful city with a pleasant climate and excellent food.
I presented a poster on the usefulness of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), analyzing both clinical data and changes in DNA methylation in umbilical cord blood. CGM enables continuous glucose monitoring, including during nighttime, allowing assessment of glucose levels that could not be captured by conventional self-monitoring of blood glucose. Our results demonstrated that certain CGM-derived parameters were correlated with birth weight and neonatal glucose levels. Furthermore, analysis of the association between CGM data and cord blood DNA methylation identified one CpG site that showed a significant positive correlation with time in range. This CpG site was associated with a gene related to glucose metabolism.
Among the oral sessions, I was particularly impressed by a session on healthcare systems for Indigenous populations in Australia. In Japan, the number of pregnant women from diverse cultural backgrounds has been increasing, which sometimes presents challenges in clinical practice. This session highlighted the importance of establishing safe healthcare systems while respecting cultural diversity. Attending international conferences is always inspiring due to their scale and the active discussions. I hope to continue participating in international meetings and to use these experiences as a foundation for further research.
