Association between maternal lipid profile and gestational diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Background: Dyslipidemia is the third component of metabolic syndrome and is a well-known cardiovascular risk factor. However, the  association of dyslipidemia with gestational diabetes mellitus is still a subject of ongoing research in Nigerian obstetric populations.

Objective: To determine the relationship between second trimester maternal fasting plasma lipid constituents and gestational diabetes  mellitus.

Methods: This was a prospective nested case-control study that enrolled 288 pregnant women out of which 36 women with GDM (cases)  where matched with 72 without GDM (controls) following results of oral glucose tolerance testing and plasma fasting lipid profiles done  between 24-28 weeks. The patients were followed up until delivery to document maternal and fetal outcomes. Data was analyzed using  Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Categorical variables were presented in percentages while continuous variables were  expressed as means (±Standard Deviation). Student t-test and Chi-square test or Fishers exact test were used for comparing variables  between the two groups. A p-value of <0.05 at 95% confidence interval was considered statistically significant. 

Results: The overall mean plasma lipid levels for the four lipid constituents in the study population were 187.9mg/dL, 163.5mg/dl,  49.1mg/dL and 108.1mg/dL for TC, TG, HDL-c and LDL-c respectively. The mean plasma triglyceride was significantly higher in cases  compared to the controls: 187.0±67.7mg/dL vs. 151.7±66.4mg/dL, (p = 0.01). Abnormal triglyceride was significantly associated with GDM  (AOR: 4.8, 95% CI (1.6-14.4), (p= 0.005).

Conclusion: Maternal dyslipidemia (abnormal triglyceride) was shown to be significantly  associated with GDM in this study and it  appeared to be causally related.