Large- and small-for-gestational-age neonates born by women with gestational diabetes mellitus diagnosed by the new IADPSG criteria: a case-control study of 289 patients and 1 108 controls

Risk of Stillbirth in Pregnancies Complicated by Diabetes, Stratified by Fetal Growth

OBJECTIVE

To compare stillbirth rates per week of expectant management stratified by birth weight in pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) or pregestational diabetes mellitus.

METHODS

A national population-based retrospective cohort study of singleton, nonanomalous pregnancies complicated by pregestational diabetes or GDM was performed using national birth and death certificate data from 2014 to 2017. Stillbirth rates per 10,000 patients (stillbirth incidence at gestational age week/ongoing pregnancies-[0.5×live births at gestational age week]) were determined for each week of pregnancy from 34 to 39 completed weeks of gestation. Pregnancies were stratified by birth weight, categorized as having small-for-gestational-age (SGA), appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA), or large-for-gestational-age (LGA) fetuses, assigned by sex-based Fenton criteria. Relative risk (RR) and 95% CI for stillbirth were calculated for each gestational age week compared with the GDM-related AGA group.

RESULTS

We included 834,631 pregnancies complicated by either GDM (86.9%) or pregestational diabetes (13.1%) in the analysis, with a total of 3,033 stillbirths. Stillbirth rates increased with advancing gestational age for pregnancies complicated by both GDM and pregestational diabetes regardless of birth weight. Compared with pregnancies with AGA fetuses, those with both SGA and LGA fetuses were significantly associated with an increased risk of stillbirth at all gestational ages. Ongoing pregnancies at 37 weeks of gestation complicated by pregestational diabetes with LGA or SGA fetuses had respective stillbirth rates of 64.9 and 40.1 per 10,000 patients. Pregnancies complicated by pregestational diabetes had an RR of stillbirth of 21.8 (95% CI 17.4-27.2) for LGA fetuses and 13.5 (95% CI 8.5-21.2) for SGA fetuses compared with GDM-related AGA at 37 weeks of gestation. The greatest absolute risk of stillbirth was in pregnancies complicated by pregestational diabetes at 39 weeks of gestation with LGA fetuses (97/10,000).

CONCLUSION

Pregnancies complicated by both GDM and pregestational diabetes affected by pathologic fetal growth have an increased risk of stillbirth with advancing gestational age. This risk is significantly higher with pregestational diabetes, especially pregestational diabetes with LGA fetuses.

The Clinical Values of Afamin, Triglyceride and PLR in Predicting Risk of Gestational Diabetes During Early Pregnancy

Objective

To establish a model to predict gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) based on the clinical characteristics, early pregnancy (10-12 weeks gestation) peripheral blood routine, and biochemical indicators, and to explore its predictive efficiencies.

Methods

Data from 607 pregnant women with GDM were compared to the data from 833 pregnant women without GDM admitted to the Obstetrics Department of Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital (affiliated to Fujian Medical University) from May 2018 to December 2018 were retrospectively included. The ages of the pregnant women, paternal ages, number of pregnancies, number of deliveries, pre-pregnancy heights/weights, and the calculated body mass indexes (BMI) were recorded. In all participants, 10-12 weeks of pregnancy, afamin concentration, routine blood work, prenatal aneuploidy screening, and biochemical testing were performed. At weeks 24-28 of gestation, patients underwent oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) for GDM screening.

Results

Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that maternal age, early pregnancy afamin level, triglycerides, and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were independent risk factors for gestational diabetes. The formula for predicting GDM probability was as follows: P = 1/1 + exp( - 6.054 + 0.774 × triglycerides + 0.002 × afamin + 0.155 × age - 0.012 × PLR)]. From the established ROC curve, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.748, indicating that the model has a good degree of discrimination. When the predictive probability cut-off value was set on 0.358, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 69.2%, 68.3%, 42.5%, and 86.2%, respectively, and the accuracy rate was 70.2%. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test results showed that the goodness of the model fit has a good calibration ability (χ2 = 12.269, df=8, P=0.140).

Conclusions

Maternal age, early pregnancy afamin level, triglycerides, and PLR are independent risk factors for gestational diabetes. When combined, the above indicators are helpful for prediction, early diagnosis, and intervention of gestational diabetes.

TIMER: A Clinical Study of Energy Restriction in Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Medical nutrition therapy is an integral part of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) management; however, the prescription of optimal energy intake is often a difficult task due to the limited available evidence. The present pilot, feasibility, parallel, open-label and non-randomized study aimed to evaluate the effect of a very low energy diet (VLED, 1600 kcal/day), or a low energy diet (LED, 1800 kcal/day), with or without personalized exercise sessions, among women with GDM in singleton pregnancies. A total of 43 women were allocated to one of four interventions at GDM diagnosis: (1) VLED (n = 15), (2) VLED + exercise (n = 4), (3) LED (n = 16) or (4) LED + exercise (n = 8). Primary outcomes were gestational weight gain (GWG), infant birth weight, complications at delivery and a composite outcomes score. Secondary outcomes included type of delivery, prematurity, small- for-gestational-age (SGA) or large-for-gestational-age (LGA) infants, macrosomia, Apgar score, insulin use, depression, respiratory quotient (RQ), resting metabolic rate (RMR) and middle-upper arm circumference (MUAC). GWG differed between intervention groups (LED median: 12.0 kg; VLED: 5.9 kg). No differences were noted in the type of delivery, infant birth weight, composite score, prevalence of prematurity, depression, RQ, Apgar score, MUAC, or insulin use among the four groups. Regarding components of the composite score, most infants (88.4%) were appropriate-for-gestational age (AGA) and born at a gestational age of 37–42 weeks (95.3%). With respect to the mothers, 9.3% experienced complications at delivery, with the majority being allocated at the VLED + exercise arm (p < 0.03). The composite score was low (range 0–2.5) for all mother-infant pairs, indicating a “risk-free” pregnancy outcome. The results indicate that adherence to a LED or VLED induces similar maternal, infant and obstetrics outcomes.

Prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus in Argentina according to the Latin American Diabetes Association (ALAD) and International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) diagnostic criteria and the associated maternal-neonatal complications

In Argentina, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is diagnosed by the Latin American Diabetes Association (ALAD) diagnostic criterion. In this work, we investigated GDM prevalence according to the ALAD and IADPSG diagnostic criteria, evaluated maternal and fetal outcomes and assessed whether fasting glycemia between 92-99 mg/dL was associated with increased risk of macrosomia and maternal obesity/overweight in an Argentine cohort of pregnant women. GDM prevalence was 9.8% with the ALAD diagnostic criterion and 25% considering the IADPSG criterion. Increased prevalence of maternal obesity/overweight was observed in patients with fasting glycemia over 99 mg/dL. A population of high metabolic risk is identified by the ALAD criterion.

Glycaemic status during pregnancy and longitudinal measures of fetal growth in a multi-racial US population: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

The timepoint at which fetal growth begins to differ by maternal glycaemic status is not well understood. To address this lack of data, we examined gestational diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, and early pregnancy glucose concentrations in relation to fetal growth trajectories.

METHODS

This cohort study included 2458 pregnant women from the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies-Singletons study, which took place between 2009 and 2013. Women were recruited from 12 clinical centres in the USA. Women aged 18-40 years without major chronic conditions when entering pregnancy were included and those with records of neither glucose screening test or glucose tolerance test were excluded from the study. Women were enrolled at gestational weeks 8-13 and randomly assigned to four ultrasonogram schedules (Group A; weeks 16, 24, 30, 34; Group B: weeks 18, 26, 31, 35, 39; Group C: weeks 20, 28, 32, 36; Group D: weeks 22, 29, 33, 37, 41) to capture weekly fetal growth. Gestational diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, and normal glucose tolerance were defined by medical record review. Glucose was measured in a subsample of women at weeks 10-14. We modelled fetal growth trajectories using linear mixed models with cubic splines. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00912132.

FINDINGS

Of the 2458 women included in this study, 107 (4·4%) had gestational diabetes, 118 (4·8%) had impaired glucose tolerance, and 2020 (82·2%) had NGT. 213 women were excluded from the main analysis. The cohort with gestational diabetes was associated with a larger estimated fetal weight that started at week 20 and was significant at week 28-40 (at week 37: 3061 g [95% CI 2967-3164] for women with gestational diabetes vs 2943 g [2924-2962] for women with normal glucose tolerance, adjusted p=0·02). In addition, glucose levels at weeks 10-14 were positively associated with estimated fetal weight starting at week 23 and the association became significant at week 27 (at week 37: 3073 g [2983-3167] in the highest tertile vs 2853 g [2755-2955] in the lowest tertile, adjusted p=0·0009.

INTERPRETATION

Gestational diabetes was associated with a larger fetal size that started at week 20 and became significant at gestational week 28. Efforts to mitigate gestational diabetes-related fetal overgrowth should start before 24-28 gestational weeks, when gestational diabetes is typically screened for in the USA.

FUNDING

National Institutes of Health.

Identifying fetal growth disorders using ultrasound in obese nulliparous women

OBJECTIVE

We evaluated the ability of third trimester ultrasound to diagnose fetal growth disorders among obese women.

METHODS

This is a retrospective cohort study of obese nulliparous women who delivered term singleton neonates who had an ultrasound within 5 weeks of delivery. We characterized the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of ultrasound to detect large-for-gestational age (LGA) and small-for-gestational age (SGA) infants. Antenatally, LGA and SGA were defined as an ultrasound estimated fetal weight >90% or <10% based on the Hadlock formula. Postnatally, LGA or SGA designation was based on gestational age-based birthweight percentiles. Test characteristics were analyzed for the total cohort and by class of obesity (class II, body mass index [BMI] = 35.0-39.9 kg/m² versus class III, BMI ≥ 40 kg/m²). We compared the area under the curve for receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves for different classes of obesity.

RESULTS

Of 690 women, 13 (1.9%) screened positive for SGA and 19 (2.8%) delivered an SGA neonate. In contrast, 158 (22.9%) screened positive for LGA and 97 (14.1%) delivered an LGA neonate. The sensitivity of ultrasound for SGA was 26.3% and the specificity was 98.8%. The sensitivity for LGA was 75.3% and the specificity was 85.7%. The ROC curves did not differ significantly for different classes of obesity (p = .69 for SGA, p = .75 for LGA).

CONCLUSION

Ultrasound in obese women who delivered term pregnancies has a high specificity but poor sensitivity for SGA and a low positive predictive value for LGA.

Identifying Fetal Growth Disorders Using Ultrasonography in Women With Diabetes

OBJECTIVES

We evaluated the ability of third-trimester ultrasonography (US) to diagnose disorders of fetal growth among women with diabetes mellitus.

METHODS

This work was a retrospective cohort study of women with diabetes who delivered term singleton neonates at a single academic medical center and who had a US examination within 5 weeks of delivery. We characterized the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of US to detect large-for-gestational age (LGA) and small-for-gestational age (SGA) infants. Large and small for gestational age were defined as a US estimated fetal weight of greater than 90% and less than 10%, respectively, based on the Hadlock formula (Radiology 1991; 181:129-133); US estimates of LGA or SGA were compared with postnatal findings of LGA or SGA based on gestational age-based weight percentiles. Test characteristics were analyzed for the total cohort and by the type of diabetes. We compared the areas under the curve for receiver operating characteristic curves for different types of diabetes.

RESULTS

Of 521 women, 3 (0.6%) screened positive for SGA, and 64 (12.3%) delivered an SGA neonate. In contrast, 129 (24.8%) screened positive for LGA, and 61 (11.7%) delivered an LGA neonate. The receiver operating characteristic curves did not differ significantly for different types of diabetes (P = .68).

CONCLUSIONS

Ultrasonography in women with diabetes and term or late preterm pregnancies has high specificity but poor sensitivity for SGA and a low positive predictive value for LGA. The diagnostic capability of US to detect fetal growth abnormalities did not differ significantly by the type of diabetes.