Aim: Recent studies have shown that women with hyperglycaemia in pregnancy and insulin resistance have a greater risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes than women with normoglycaemic pregnancies. This study aimed to determine adverse pregnancy outcomes of women with hyperglycaemia in pregnancy only as a function of insulin resistance.
Methods: From a prospective cohort study, we included 1,423 women with hyperglycaemia in pregnancy whose insulin resistance was evaluated using homoeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) when care was first provided for this condition. We compared the adverse pregnancy outcomes for different tertiles of HOMA-IR (intertertile range 1.9 and 3.3).
Results: Increasing HOMA-IR tertiles were positively associated with the rate of insulin therapy (tertile 1, 2 and 3: 32.7, 47.0 and 58.7%, P < 0.0001), caesarean section (23.7, 26.0 and 32.2%, respectively, P < 0.01), gestational hypertension (1.3, 2.8 and 5.4% respectively, P < 0.01), preeclampsia (1.5, 2.8 and 4.5% respectively, P < 0.05), large-for-gestational-age infant (13.3, 10.4 and 17.6% respectively, P < 0.05), and neonatal hypoglycaemia (0.8, 1.5 and 3.2% respectively, P < 0.05). Women in the 3rd HOMA-IR tertile were more likely to have insulin therapy (odds ratio 2.09 (95% interval confidence 1.61-2.71)), hypertensive disorders (2.26 (1.42-3.36)), and large-for-gestational-age infant (1.42 (1.01-1.99)) than those in the 1st and 2nd tertiles combined in multivariable logistic regression analyses adjusted for gestational age at HOMA-IR measurement, glycaemic status, age, body mass index, family history of diabetes, parity and ethnicity.
Conclusion: Despite suitable care and increased rates of insulin therapy during pregnancy, higher insulin resistance in women with hyperglycaemia in pregnancy was associated with a greater risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Keywords: Diabetes in pregnancy; Gestational diabetes mellitus; HOMA-B, HOMA-IR; Oral glucose tolerance test; Pregnancy outcomes.
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