Maternal serum leptin concentration in gestational diabetes mellitus

OBJECTIVE: Pregnancy simulates diabetes like condition in which insulin resistance starts to appear from mid pregnancy along with the changes in body weight and energy homeostasis. Hormonal changes seen during pregnancy can lead on to hyperglycemia. Leptin, apart from playing a major role in energy metabolism, also regulate fetal growth and development. Thus objective of the study was to evaluate maternal serum leptin levels and its correlation with BMI and lipid profile in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 30 healthy pregnant females and 30 age and gestation (28-32 weeks) matched females with singleton pregnancy; newly diagnosed with GDM satisfying the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included in the study. Serum leptin, BMI and lipid profile were done in both the groups. RESULTS: Mean serum leptin was significantly higher (p<0.001) in GDM patients (30.0±5.98 ng/mL) than in control group (20.30±4.48 ng/mL). Mean values of BMI was also found to be significantly higher (p<0.05) in GDM patients (26.20±3.74 kg/m 2 ) as compared to controls (24.17±3.72 kg/m 2 ). Serum Triglycerides, Serum Cholesterol, Serum VLDL-C were found to be significantly elevated in patients as compared to controls (p<0.05) while HDL-C and LDLC showed statistically no difference between patients and controls (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Our study showed that serum leptin level was raised in GDM patients and a significant positive correlation was seen between serum leptin and BMI (r=0.414, p= 0.023). A significant positive correlation was also found between serum leptin and TG (r= 0.509, p=0.004) and serum leptin and VLDL-C (r=0.442, p= 0.014). This suggests that increased body fat may be one of the contributing factors for elevating serum leptin in GDM patients as leptin is mainly produced by white adipose tissue. Also raised leptin has an effect on lipoprotein metabolism along with the effect on glucose homeostasis.