Association of Glycosylated Albumin Level with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Background: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is a common medical disorder detected during pregnancy with adverse consequences on the health of the mother and the fetus. Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is an important parameter of glycemic control in patients with diabetes mellitus. However, it only reflects the long-term glycemic status, but can’t reflect short term glycemic control. It has also been demonstrated that HbA1c does not reflect glycemic control accurately during pregnancy because of iron deficiency. But Glycosylated Albumin (GA) reflects average blood glucose within 2-3 weeks and is not influenced by iron deficiency. Therefore, glycosylated albumin may be used to measure recent changes in blood glucose level in GDM patients. The aim of the study is to evaluate the association of glycosylated albumin and glycemic status in GDM.
 Materials and methods: This case control study was carried out in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, BSMMU, Dhaka between August 2017 and December 2018. Atotal of 140 pregnant women between 18-35 years of age attending outdoor antenatal clinic in their second and third trimester of pregnancy were enrolled in this study. Among them 70 diagnosed case of GDM were considered as group I and rest 70 non-diabetic pregnant women were considered as control and group II. Plasma glycosylated albumin was measured in all of these patients. Statistical analysis of the results was obtained by using Windows based computer software devised with Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS-22).
 Results: The mean glycosylated albumin was 17.12±2.00 (%) in group I and 12.90±1.03 (%) in group II. The difference was statistically significant (p<0.05) between two groups. There was a positive significant moderate correlation (r=0.643, p=0.001) between glycosylated albumin (%) and 2 hours after 75 gm glucose in GDM patients. There was also a positive significant weak correlation (r=0.258, p=0.031) between GA and FBS in GDM patients.
 Conclusion: A significant positive association was found between glycemic status in GDM and maternal glycosylated albumin levels. Therefore,glycosylated albumin may be applied to reflect the average blood glucose status in pregnant women with GDM.
 JCMCTA 2021 ; 32 (2) : 64-69