Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to compare the clinical characteristics of pregnant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) based on a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) with those of pregnant women who had normal test results and to evaluate the potential role of serum fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21) levels in the diagnosis of GDM.

Method: This prospective, controlled cohort study. A total of thirty-six pregnant women diagnosed with GDM based on a 75-g OGTT and thirty-six pregnant women with normal test results who presented to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Health Sciences Turkey, Prof. Dr. Cemil Taşcıoğlu City Hospital between 01/12/2021 and 01/04/2022 were included in the study. The participants’ age and obstetric outcomes. Neonatal characteristics, and laboratory results, including FGF-21 levels, were recorded.

Results: When the general characteristics of the participants in our study were evaluated, no statistically significant differences were found between the groups with and without gestational diabetes in terms of age, gravidity, parity, weight, birth weight, birth length, gestational week, hemoglobin, platelet count, and alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase levels, indicating that the two groups were similar (p<0.05). However, when evaluated in terms of FGF-21 levels, a statistically significant difference was found between the group diagnosed with gestational diabetes and the group without it (p<0.001), with the group diagnosed with gestational diabetes had higher mean FGF-21 levels. No statistically significant relationship was found between FGF-21 levels and diet, medication use, or intensive care unit admissions (p>0.005). However, a statistically significant difference was found between FGF-21 levels and amniotic fluid index (AFI) increase (p=0.003). It was observed that participants with increased AFI had higher mean FGF-21 levels than those with normal AFI.

Conclusion: In this study, serum FGF-21 levels were higher in pregnant women with GDM than in those without GDM.