Maternal and cord blood glycated albumin and total serum proteins: correlation with maternal glycemic control and birth weight.

Maternal and cord blood glycated albumin and total protein levels were measured in three groups: normal women (nondiabetic women who gave birth to infants that were normal for gestational age), test women (women who had no evidence of glucose intolerance with screening procedures and who gave birth to large for gestational age infants), and women with gestational diabetes. In all cases the cord glycated albumin and total protein levels were 20% to 30% less than the corresponding maternal levels, and no correlation could be detected between cord and maternal blood concentrations. There was no significant difference in cord and maternal glycated albumin and total protein levels among the three groups, although there was a slight upward trend detected in the test and diabetic groups. There was no significant correlation between birth weight ratio and either cord or maternal values for any of the groups except the diabetic cord samples, where a significant negative correlation between glycated albumin and total protein and birth weight ratios was found. The implications of these findings are discussed in respect to the usefulness of cord and maternal glycated albumin and total protein in retrospective screening for gestational diabetes.