Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy is not associated with diabetes mellitus development in pregnant women at low risk...

We aimed to investigate the effect of vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) among pregnant women without known risk factors.

The study was conducted on pregnant women who had been under regular follow-up and had low risk for GDM development. The patients were divided into two groups according to the presence of GDM; GDM and no GDM (control) group. Body mass index (BMI), sociodemographic data including level of education and nutritional habits were recorded. Serum 25 (OH) vitamin D₃ levels, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) values were measured. An oral glucose tolerance test was performed, between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy.

GDM ratio was calculated as 4.6%. The false positive rate of 50 g oral glucose load screening test was found to be 16.5%. The BMI levels of women diagnosed as having GDM and those with no GDM group at the beginningof the pregnancy period were calculated as 24.3±2.6 and 22.8±1.6 kg/m2 respectively, exhibiting a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p=0.001). Hemoglobin, hematocrit, and MCV values did not show a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p>0.05). The levels of 25 (OH) vitamin D₃ of the study groups were found comparable in both groups (p=0.13).

Plasma levels of vitamin D may not be a contributing factor for the development of GDM in women with a low risk for GDM.