Quantitative analysis of amniotic fluid phospholipids in diabetic pregnant women

Controversy exists regarding the fetal lung maturity profiles in diabetic and normal pregnancies. Diabetic and control patients at term were compared. A comprehensive lung profile was obtained using high performance liquid chromatography, lecithin:sphingomyelin ratio by conventional thin-layer chromatography, and the Lumadex foam stability index. There was no statistically significant difference in the phospholipids measured by any of the three techniques despite the fact that the control patients had a significantly higher mean gestational age at amniocentesis. As expected, the diabetic pregnancies had a significantly higher mean birth weight. There was no case of respiratory distress syndrome in either group. The present data do not allow rejection of the null hypothesis of no difference in amniotic fluid phospholipids, between diabetic and normal pregnancy, at term.