Background: Although glycemic variability (GV) has been shown to be associated with endothelial dysfunction in diabetes mellitus (DM), there is a dearth of literature on its correlation in gestational diabetic pregnancies.
Aim: To compare GV and 24-hour ambulatory glucose profile (AGP) in gestational diabetic pregnancies with and without large for gestation-age (LGA) babies.
Materials and methods: It was a cross-sectional observational study. A total of 40 pregnant females between 19 and 35 years with gestational DM (GDM) controlled on pharmacotherapy fulfilling inclusion criteria were recruited. A flash glucose monitor (FGM) was used to record AGP between 32 and 36 weeks of gestation in these women. A total of 400 patient days with 38,400 glucose values in the study group were analyzed. Various glucose measures were compared between the GDM pregnancies with or without LGA babies.
Results: The incidence of LGA was 15% in these pregnant women who were on pharmacotherapy and apparently controlled as evidenced by self-monitoring of blood sugar values. All the parameters of 24-hour AGP except dinner values were significantly high in the LGA group when compared with the non-LGA group [mean amplitude of glycemic excursion (MAGE) LGA vs non-LGA 74.58 ± 16.83 vs 49.86 ± 12.83 mg/dL, p = 0.002; standard deviation (SD) LGA vs non-LGA 30.19 ± 9.69 vs 20.10 ± 5.97 mg/dL, p = 0.001]. Variables of GV: MAGE and SD were significantly high in the LGA group (p < 0.001). Time below range (TBR) and time above range (TAR) were also significantly altered in the LGA group (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: High GV and time in the range are the important parameters that can be well correlated with LGA babies in gestational diabetic pregnancies on pharmacotherapy. An FGM is a good monitoring device to measure this parameter and can be used as an adjunct to modify measures to control the glucose values within range in these pregnancies.
© Journal of the Association of Physicians of India 2023.