A prospective study on HbA1c levels in patients without GDM and its correlation with pregnancy outcome

Introduction: Pregnancy is a diabetogenic state which places the mother as well as the foetus at high risk for certain complications even though the woman is neither GDM nor overt diabetic. This study aims at estimation of HbA1c value after 24 weeks of pregnancy and its correlation with the pregnancy outcome. Materials and Methods: The study was done among 60 healthy pregnant women who are between 18-35 years. HbA1c was estimated and they were followed up for assessing pregnancy outcome. Birth weight >90th percentile, primary C-section, neonatal hypoglycaemia, any NICU admissions and neonate’s condition at discharge were assessed. Results: The mean of haemoglobin, OGTT (fasting, 1-hour and 2-hours) and HbA1c were 11.25mg/dL, 81.73mg/dL, 120.75mg/dL, 104.13mg/dL and 5.24% respectively. The trimester specific HbA1c levels in the second and third trimesters in the present study were found to be 5.11% and 5.27% respectively. Among the study subjects 51 (85%) women had term delivery whereas 9 (15%) women had preterm delivery. 42 women (70%) had normal delivery, 1(1.7%) patient had operative vaginal and the remaining 17(28.3%) patients had emergency caesarean section. It was observed that 5(8.3%) subjects had LBW and 55(91.7%) had normal birth weight neonates. Two neonates among the study subjects had NICU admission for other reasons. Conclusion: The results obtained by this study showed low or no significant relationship between HbA1c levels estimation during pregnancy and pregnancy as well as foetal outcome, also adverse pregnancy outcomes have multifactorial influences rather than maternal glycaemic status alone. Keywords: HbA1c, Gestational diabetes mellitus, Pregnancy outcome.