Performance of early risk assessment tools to predict the later development of gestational diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Several prognostic models for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are provided in the literature; however, their clinical significance has not been thoroughly evaluated, especially with regard to application at early gestation and in accordance with the most recent diagnostic criteria. This external validation study aimed to assess the predictive accuracy of published risk estimation models for the later development of GDM at early pregnancy. METHODS: In this cohort study, we prospectively included 1132 pregnant women. Risk evaluation was performed before 16 + 0 weeks of gestation including a routine laboratory examination. Study participants were followed-up until delivery to assess GDM status according to the IADPSG 2010 diagnostic criteria. Fifteen clinical prediction models were calculated according to the published literature. RESULTS: Gestational diabetes mellitus was diagnosed in 239 women, that is 21.1% of the study participants. Discrimination was assessed by the area under the ROC curve and ranged between 60.7% and 76.9%, corresponding to an acceptable accuracy. With some exceptions, calibration performance was poor as most models were developed based on older diagnostic criteria with lower prevalence and therefore tended to underestimate the risk of GDM. The highest variable importance scores were observed for history of GDM and routine laboratory parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Most prediction models showed acceptable accuracy in terms of discrimination but lacked in calibration, which was strongly dependent on study settings. Simple biochemical variables such as fasting glucose, HbA1c and triglycerides can improve risk prediction. One model consisting of clinical and laboratory parameters showed satisfactory accuracy and could be used for further investigations.

Maternal Overweight vs. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Disentangling Their Impact on Insulin Action in Pregnancy-A Prospective Study.

BACKGROUND: To investigate insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism in pregnant lean and overweight polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients vs. lean and overweight controls without PCOS. METHODS: Prospective cohort study on 67 pregnant women (31 with PCOS and 36 controls, subdivided into overweight or obese and normal weight). All women underwent a 2h-OGTT including glucose, insulin, and C-peptide in early- and mid-gestation and were followed-up until delivery. RESULTS: Insulin sensitivity and glucometabolic parameters were comparable between PCOS patients and controls, whereas marked differences were observed between overweight/obese and lean mothers. Impaired whole-body insulin sensitivity at early pregnancy is mainly a consequence of higher BMI (body mass index; p < 0.001) compared to PCOS (p = 0.216), whereby no interaction between overweight/obesity and PCOS was observed (p = 0.194). Moreover, overweight was significantly associated with gestational diabetes (p = 0.0003), whereas there were no differences between women with and without PCOS (p = 0.51). Birth weight was inversely related to whole-body insulin sensitivity (rho = -0.33, p = 0.014) and positively associated with higher pregestational BMI (rho = 0.33, p = 0.012), whereas there was no association with PCOS. CONCLUSIONS: Impaired insulin action was mainly a consequence of overweight rather than PCOS. Our data suggest that overweight is more relevant than PCOS for the effects on insulin sensitivity and impaired glucose metabolism.

Novel Indices of Glucose Homeostasis Derived from Principal Component Analysis: Application for Metabolic Assessment in Pregnancy.

AIMS: This study is aimed at assessing the association of previously developed indices of glucose homeostasis derived from principal component analysis (PCA) with parameters of insulin action, secretion, and beta cell function during pregnancy. METHODS: In this prospective longitudinal study, an oral glucose tolerance test was performed in sixty-seven pregnant women at two prepartum (12+0 to 22+6 and 24+0 to 28+6) and one postpartum (2 to 11 months) visits. Three principal component scores (PCS) were calculated based on measurements of glucose, insulin, C-peptide, age, and BMI to assess their association with fasting and dynamic indices of insulin action, secretion, and ß-cell function. RESULTS: PCS1 was positively associated with fasting and dynamic parameters of insulin sensitivity (Matsuda index: r = 0.93, p < 0.001), whereas a strong negative association was observed for early, late, and total insulin response. PCS2 was associated with higher mean glucose but negatively related to parameters of insulin secretion. PCS3 was significantly associated with fasting indices of insulin sensitivity. PCS1 to 3 assessed at early pregnancy were also associated with development of GDM, whereby random forest analysis revealed the highest variable importance for PCS1. PCS1 to 3 were significantly related to the oral disposition index explaining 49.0% of its variance. CONCLUSIONS: PCS1 to 3 behaved similarly as compared to previous observations in nonpregnant women and were furthermore associated with the development of GDM. These findings support our hypothesis that PCS1 to 3 could be used as novel indices of glucose disposal during pregnancy.

Effects of gum chewing on glycaemic control in women with gestational diabetes mellitus: A randomized controlled trial. Impact of chewing on hyperglycaemia in women with GDM.

BACKGROUND: The amount of chewing might be relevant in reducing hyperglycaemia in diabetic patients. The study assessed the impact of enhanced chewing on glycaemic control in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS: As an open-label, mono-centre randomized controlled trial, 59 women with recent diagnosis of GDM were included. They received either routine care or additional chewing gum intervention. SMBG was performed for five days. RESULTS: No significant impact on mean values of postprandial glucose levels were observed. The estimated mean differences (intervention vs. control group) were: 4.9 mg/dl, 98.4 %CI -7.2-17.1 (breakfast); -4.5 mg/dl, 98.4 %CI -15.1-6.0 (lunch); -3.8 mg/dl, 98.4 %CI -15.9 to 8.4 (dinner). OGTT levels at 60 and 120 min. were associated with glucose levels after breakfast. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, no significant differences in blood glucose levels were observed between the groups and therefore major effects of chewing on hyperglycaemia in women with GDM could be excluded. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov; NCT03961542, Date of registration: 20.01.2019. Retrospectively registered.

Trajectories of Fetal Adipose Tissue Thickness in Pregnancies After Gastric Bypass Surgery.

PURPOSE: Recent studies showed that women after surgery are at higher risk of delivering small-for-gestational infants. Thus, this study aims to investigate longitudinal changes of fetal subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness (FSCTT) of fetuses conceived after gastric bypass surgery as compared to BMI-matched controls. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study measuring ultrasound-derived longitudinal trajectories of abdominal FSCTT in 41 singleton pregnancies after gastric bypass surgery compared to 41 BMI-matched controls and 64 obese mothers. RESULTS: FSCTT was significantly lower in fetuses of women after GB as compared to BMI-matched controls in the second (mean difference 1.38 mm, p < 0.001) and third trimester of gestation (mean difference 3.37 mm, p < 0.001). Longitudinal analysis revealed significant differences in mean FSCTT trajectories between offspring's in GB mothers, BMI-matched, or obese controls. The ratio of FSCTT and abdominal circumference remained constant in the BMI-matched control group whereas it significantly decreased in fetuses of women after GB. Despite remarkable differences were observed in longitudinally assessed FSCTT, further analyses in the GB subgroup revealed that FSCTT were not influenced by OGTT mean or 120 min glucose values, biochemically hypoglycemia, time since bariatric surgery, or weight loss since surgery. CONCLUSION: In fetuses of mothers with history of bariatric surgery, abdominal FSCTT was markedly reduced. While the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood, a multifactorial genesis including nutritional deficiencies and altered metabolism after bariatric surgery is assumed.

Prevalence of cervical and intrauterine human papillomavirus infection in the third trimester in asymptomatic women.

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence and association of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the cervix of pregnant women without visible signs of genital HPV infection undergoing cesarean delivery in the third trimester and to investigate a possible HPV transmission to the fetus. METHODS: All women underwent cesarean delivery between 37 and 40 weeks of gestation. Cervical samples were taken prior to cesarean delivery. Furthermore amniotic fluid, placental tissue, and cord blood were sampled and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or Hybrid Capture II test (Digene Corp, Beltsville, MD) was performed to detect HPV DNA. RESULTS: We found that 56 (36.6 %) of 153 women were positive for HPV in the cervix. Logistic regression analyses showed a decrease of prevalence of HPV infection with increasing maternal age (P = .02). No HPV DNA could be detected in the amniotic fluid or cord blood, whereas eight placental specimens were positive for HPV DNA. CONCLUSION: The infection rate in women without clinical symptoms of HPV infection is high, but there was no HPV found in the amniotic fluid and in cord blood in women with subclinical infection in the third trimester.

Detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in normal cervical smears of HCV-seropositive patients.

The presence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in normal cervical smears (CS) obtained from 22 HCV-seropositive and 50 HCV-seronegative patients was assessed by reverse-transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The presence of HCV in serum was established by use of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Western blot test, and RT-PCR. HCV was detected in 36.4% (n=8) of CS cells recovered from 22 HCV-seropositive patients, but not in CS samples obtained from 50 HCV-seronegative patients. Furthermore, cells from the CS of 2 seropositive/smear-positive patients and 1 seropositive/smear-negative patient were isolated; HCV RNA was detectable in the cervical lymphocytes of the 2 smear-positive patients, but not in epithelial cells or granulocytes. HCV RNA is detectable in the CS of some HCV-seropositive women. The clinical importance of these data requires further study.

Characteristics of clear cells and Toker cells in the epidermis of underlying nipple duct adenoma.

Clinically, it is difficult to differentiate between nipple duct adenomas (NDAs) and Paget's disease of the nipple. These lesions share similar morphological and histological characteristics. Clear cell types present in NDA, epidermal clear cells (ECC) and Toker cells (TC), share immunoreactive similarities to Paget cells which can lead to confusion in classification. The aim of this study was to obtain information on the characteristics and histogenesis of ECC and TC, to distinguish these cells from Paget cells. Ten nipple epidermal with NDA were compared to 25 histologically normal nipples. Samples were analyzed for cytokeratins (CKs) 7, 8 and 18, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), c-erbB-2/HER2 expression and human papillomavirus (HPV-) DNA. In 13 out of 25 normal nipples the staining sequence demonstrated that ECC and TC cell types are immunoreactive with CKs 7, 8 and 18 in the basal region of the epidermis. In contrast, aggregated CKs 7, 8 and 18-immunoreactive ECC and TC were identified in the epidermal of 8 of the 10 NDA cases. In 2 cases, TC were continuous with the underlying NDA, suggesting that TC might be of ductal origin and migrate through the galactophorous ostia. In NDAs and 25 histologically normal nipples, ECC and TC were negative for CEA, c-erbB-2/HER2 and HPV-DNA. ECC and TC, normally present in the nipple epidermis, may proliferate and form aggregates in the presence of an underlying NDA. These cells show immunoreactivity for CKs 7, 8 and 18 but are negative for c-erbB-2/HER2, CEA and HPV-DNA and should not lead to the mistaken diagnosis of Paget's disease.