Correlation between inflammatory markers and insulin resistance in pregnancy

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with an increased risk of postpartum type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and systemic inflammation. We aimed to evaluate further lipid profile and inflammatory status assessed by high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and TNF-α in GDM. Based on oral glucose tolerance testing, participants were stratified into three groups: normal 50 g glucose challenge test (GCT), normal 100 g glucose tolerance test (NOGTT) (control group) (n = 40); abnormal GCT NOGTT (glucose intolerance) (n = 37); and GDM (n = 39), defined by Carpenter and Coustan. The three groups did not demonstrate significantly different hsCRP levels (p = 0.4180) and lipid profile parameters, such as total cholesterol (p = 0.4210) and LDL-cholesterol (p = 0.4440) levels. Triglycerides (p = 0.0150) and atherogenic index of the plasma levels (p = 0.0280) were slightly higher in the GDM group. But, TNF-α levels increased significantly in the GDM (p < 0.0001) and in glucose intolerance (p = 0.0062) groups as compared with the control group. Among the metabolic syndrome components, insulin resistance was apparently associated with TNF-α, whereas dyslipidaemia was slightly associated with hsCRP because of the effects of maternal age on lipid markers. These findings suggest that TNF-α has a stronger correlation with pregnancy-associated insulin resistance than hsCRP at 24 to 28 weeks' gestation.