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Updated: Feb 24, 2026

Study of In Vivo Glucose Metabolism in High-fat Diet-fed Mice Using Oral Glucose Tolerance Test OGTT and Insulin Tolerance Test ITT
Published on: January 7, 2018
Homeostatic model assessment of beta cell function predicting abnormal oral glucose tolerance testing in pregnancy: a
Jonas Ellerbrock1,2, Jolijn M H A Bohnen3, Veronica A Lopes van Balen1,2
1a Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology , Maastricht University Medical Center , Maastricht , The Netherlands.
Background:
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) complicates 1-14% of pregnancies and relates to increased risk of adverse obstetric outcomes. Currently GDM is diagnosed using an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), which is burdensome and time intensive.
Objective:
To compare current literature on whether the homeostatic model assessment beta cell function (HOMA-β) is an accurate predictor of an abnormal OGTT in pregnant women.
Methods:
Pubmed, Cochrane and Embase were searched. Included studies evaluated pregnant women at risk for GDM using the homeostatic model assessment of beta cell function (HOMA-β) for the assessment of beta cell function and the OGTT. Studies with animals, non-pregnant women, women with type 2 diabetes and post-partum diabetes were excluded. The QUADAS-2 criteria were used to assess the methodological quality of studies.
Results:
A total of 12 studies were included, reporting on 7292 women. Seven studies showed a difference in beta cell function between women with impaired glucose tolerance compared to healthy pregnant women. HOMA-β is significantly lower in impaired glucose tolerance (p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
Although HOMA-β is lower in women with abnormal OGTT in pregnancy, given the high degree of heterogeneity of studies, we do not propagate HOMA-β as a sole diagnostic tool replacing OGTT to diagnose GDM.
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