Association between maternal thallium exposure and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: Evidence from a birth cohort study

The adverse effects of TI exposure on pregnant women are still unclear, especially regarding the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) Objective: We explored the association between maternal urinary Tl burden and the risk of GDM.

A subsample of 1789 pregnant women were enrolled who provided spot urine samples before the diagnostic 75-g oral glucose tolerance test. Urinary Tl concentration was measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Logistic regression and covariance analysis were carried out to estimate the association between Tl exposure and GDM risk.

The median of urinary Tl concentration was 0.382 μg/L or 0.525 μg/g creatinine (CC-Tl). There were 437 (24.4%) participants who were diagnosed with GDM, and the urinary CC-Tl concentrations of pregnant women with GDM were higher than that of pregnant women without GDM [0.548 (0.402, 0.788) vs 0.518 (0.356, 0.724), p = 0.014]. After adjusting for the relevant covariates, an association between urinary Tl concentrations and GDM was found. In comparison to the pregnant women in the lowest quartile of urinary CC-Tl concentration, the pregnant women in the highest quartile had a higher risk of GDM [OR (95% CI) = 1.44 (1.03, 2.02), p-trend = 0.055]. If limited to the pregnant women without family history of diabetes, the results were still robust [OR (95% CI) = 1.59 (1.11, 2.30), p-trend = 0.012].

Urinary CC-Tl concentration was associated with GDM among Chinese pregnant women. Our findings provide evidence that moderately high Tl exposure may be a novel risk factor for pregnant women health.