ALT/AST as an Independent Risk Factor of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Compared with TG/HDL-C

Shuoning Song; Yuemei Zhang; Xiaolin Qiao; Yanbei Duo; Jiyu Xu; Zhenyao Peng; Jing Zhang; Yan Chen; Xiaorui Nie; Qiujin Sun; Xianchun Yang; Ailing Wang; Zechun Lu; Wei Sun; Yong Fu; Yingyue Dong; Tao Yuan; Weigang Zhao

doi:10.2147/IJGM.S332946

ALT/AST as an Independent Risk Factor of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Compared with TG/HDL-C

Int J Gen Med. 2022 Jan 5:15:115-121. doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S332946. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Shuoning Song¹, Yuemei Zhang², Xiaolin Qiao³, Yanbei Duo¹, Jiyu Xu⁴, Zhenyao Peng⁵, Jing Zhang⁶, Yan Chen³, Xiaorui Nie³, Qiujin Sun⁷, Xianchun Yang⁷, Ailing Wang⁸, Zechun Lu⁸, Wei Sun⁴, Yong Fu¹, Yingyue Dong¹, Tao Yuan¹, Weigang Zhao¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Endocrinology, Key Laboratory of Endocrinology of Ministry of Health, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Obstetrics, Haidian District Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Obstetrics, Beijing Chaoyang District Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Core Facility of Instrument, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Department of Dean's Office, Haidian District Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
⁶ Department of Laboratory, Haidian District Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
⁷ Department of Clinical Laboratory, Beijing Chaoyang District Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
⁸ National Center for Women and Children's Health, China CDC, Beijing, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to find the association between alanine transaminase-to-aspartate aminotransferase ratio (ALT/AST) and the incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Methods: A total of 1128 pregnant women were included in this prospective, double-center, observational cohort study. ALT, AST and total bilirubin (TBil) were tested during 6-12 weeks of gestation and 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was conducted during 24-28 weeks of gestation to screen GDM. The association between ALT/AST and glucose concentration during OGTT was analyzed by linear regression model. The OR with 95% CI for incidence of GDM associated with ALT/AST was estimated by binary logistic regression. The discriminatory values of ALT/AST and triglyceride/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) for GDM were calculated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC).

Results: The incidence of GDM was 22.07% (249/1128). ALT/AST was higher in GDM group than in NGT group (0.92 [0.75, 1.18] vs 0.80[0.65, 1.02], P <0.001). ALT/AST had positive correlations with fasting blood glucose, 1-hour and 2-hour blood glucose concentration during OGTT (0.089 [95% CI: 0.034, 0.163], 0.176 [95% CI: 0.052, 0.104], and 0.115 [95% CI: 0.199, 0.609], respectively). The OR of ALT/AST for incidence of GDM was 1.603 (95% CI:1.097, 2.344). The ROC-AUC of ALT/AST and TG/HDL-C reached 0.615 (95% CI: 0.575, 0.655) and 0.619 (95% CI: 0.580, 0.659), respectively.

Conclusion: ALT/AST in early pregnancy was an independent risk factor of GDM. The predictive ability of ALT/AST was similar to TG/HDL-C for GDM.

Keywords: alanine transaminase; aspartate aminotransferase; gestational diabetes mellitus; triglyceride; type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by “13th Five-Year” National Science and Technology Major Project for New Drugs under Grant No. 2019ZX09734001 (to Weigang Zhao).