Vaginal Progesterone Has No Diabetogenic Potential in Twin Pregnancies: A Retrospective Case-Control Study on 1686 Pregnancies.

BACKGROUND

In this study, we aimed to investigate the incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in women who carried twin pregnancies and received vaginal progesterone.

METHODS

In this retrospective cohort study, 203 out of 1686 women with twin pregnancies received natural progesterone (200 mg/day between gestational weeks 16 + 0 and 36 + 0) vaginally for ≥ 4 weeks. The control group consisted of 1483 women with twin pregnancies without progesterone administration. Pearson's Chi squared test, Fisher's exact test, and Student's t-test was used to compare differences between the control and the progesterone-treated groups. A multivariate binary logistic regression was performed to assess relative independent associations on the dependent outcome of GDM incidence.

RESULTS

Vaginal progesterone treatment in twin pregnancies had no significant influence on developing GDM ( = 0.662). Higher pre-pregnancy BMI (OR 1.1; < 0.001), GDM in previous pregnancy (OR 6.0; < 0.001), and smoking during pregnancy (OR 1.6; = 0.014) posed an increased risk for developing GDM.

CONCLUSION

In twin pregnancies, the use of vaginal progesterone for the prevention of recurrent preterm delivery was not associated with an increased risk of GDM.