Relationship between leg length and gestational diabetes mellitus in Chinese pregnant women.

T he relationship between maternal short stature and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) remains controversial. While such an association has been shown in Europeans, South Americans, and Southern Asians (1–5), it was not demonstrated in Hungarians of European origin (6). Apart from ethnic differences, the contribution of the different components of height to overall height could have influenced this association, since leg length rather than trunk length has been correlated with type 2 diabetes in British women (7), and a similar observation in women with GDM has since been reported (5). As Chinese women are generally shorter than their European counterparts because of shorter legs, we have examined the relationship between overall height and components of height with the development of GDM in Chinese women to address this issue.