Association between body composition in early pregnancy and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common complication during pregnancy that poses serious health risks to both mothers and their offspring. Risk factors for GDM, such as obesity, have been extensively reported. However, the association between body composition and GDM risk remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective cohort study to investigate the relationship between body composition in early pregnancy and the risk of developing GDM.

METHODS

A total of 3,159 pregnant women were enrolled between June 2020 and December 2021, with 280 (10.43%) diagnosed with GDM. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) was used to measure the percentage of body fat (PBF), fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM), and lean mass (LM). Logistic regression and restricted cubic spline (RCS) analyses were performed to examine the associations between body composition and GDM risk.

RESULTS

Compared with the bottom tertile, the top tertile levels of PBF and FM were significantly associated with an increased risk of GDM, with adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of 1.77 (1.13, 2.77) and 1.99 (1.23, 3.20), respectively. Each standard deviation (SD) increase in PBF and FM was associated with a 31% (95% CI: 1.07-1.60) and 27% (95% CI: 1.03-1.57) increased risk of GDM, respectively. RCS analysis indicated that the risk of GDM continuously increased with higher levels of PBF and FM, whereas it decreased with FFM and LM (-overall < 0.001, -non-linear range: 0.073-0.924). These findings provide important threshold values in predicting GDM risk, specifically 24.74% for PBF, 13.13 kg for FM, 39.81 kg for FFM, and 36.74 kg for LM.

CONCLUSION

The risk of GDM is positively associated with PBF and FM whereas negatively associated with FFM and LM.