Maternal serum lipid levels in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in comparison to normal pregnant women

Background: Even though hormonal changes in pregnancy have been associated with plasma lipid variation, is not yet understood the mechanism which pregnancy alters lipid metabolism. Materials and Methods: This prospective cohort study conducted between March 2011 and May 2012 in Shariati Hospital on 112 pregnant women with GDM and 159 healthy pregnant women. In order to determine lipids or lipoproteins changes during pregnancy lipid components, glucose and insulin levels were obtained in maternal serum three times in the third trimester. Results: Maternal serum glucose, total cholesterol (TC), low and high density lipoprotein (LDL-c, HDL-c) levels did not show any significant difference between two groups. While insulin, homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and triglyceride (TG) values were detected to be significantly higher in the GDM cases especially after32weeks of gestation (P<0.05) and according to spearman test the increase of TG level was correlated with increase of insulin resistance and HOMA-IR (PV=0.001). Conclusion: Due to positive correlation of hypertriglyceridemia and hyperinsulinemia, it is possible to assume that elevated TGs levels in GDM cases is a reflection of variation in maternal insulin levels.