Pre-pregnancy LDL/HDL and total Cholesterol/HDL ratios are strong predictors of gestational diabetes mellitus in women undergoing assisted reproductive technologies.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: To analyze whether there is an association between pre-pregnancy lipid parameters and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in women undergoing assisted reproductive technologies (ART), a group especially at risk for GDM, and if so, which parameter is associated the strongest.

METHODS

Data was collected at the Reproductive and Genetic Hospital CITIC-Xiangya in Changsha, China from January 2017 to December 2018. The measured lipid parameters include LDL (low-density lipoprotein), HDL (high-density lipoprotein), TC (total cholesterol), and TG (triglycerides).

RESULTS

119 (15.5%) of the 767 patients developed GDM. On average, women who developed GDM were older, had a higher BMI, LDL, TC, and TG, and lower HDL. After adjusting for confounders, LDL and HDL showed a significant association with GDM (p < 0.05), but TC and TG did not. Binary LDL/HDL and TC/HDL ratios showed the strongest association with GDM incidence (OR 1.957 [95%CI 1.258-3.044] and 1.942 [1.243-3.034] respectively). Subgroup analysis showed that an elevated LDL/HDL ratio also increased GDM risk in subgroups with a typically lower prevalence of GDM, such as young women with a low BMI and low blood pressure. Both lipid ratios (LDL/HDL and TC/HD) show strong interactions with baseline age, fasting plasma glucose, and LH.

CONCLUSIONS

In this cohort of Chinese women undergoing ART, pre-pregnancy LDL/HDL and TC/HDL were associated with GDM the strongest from the lipid parameters and could be useful to estimate GDM risk even before ART treatments and pregnancy.

CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER

NCT03503006 registered on the 21st of March 2018 (on clinicaltrials.gov). https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03503006?locStr=Changsha,%20Hunan,%20China&country=China&state=Hunan&city=Changsha&cond=ivf&rank=2 .