Assisted conception as a potential prognostic factor predicting insulin therapy in pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND: Advanced maternal age, family history of diabetes, pre-gestational obesity, increased level of HbA1c, history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and poor pregnancy consequences are considered risk factors for antenatal insulin requirement in women with GDM. However, the role of assisted reproductive technology (ART) in increasing the risk of insulin therapy in pregnancies complicated with GDM remained elusive. The current study aimed to determine the role of ART in predicting insulin therapy in GDM women and investigate the clinical and biochemical factors predicting the need for insulin therapy in pregnancies complicated with GDM. METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, 236 Iranian women with GDM were diagnosed by one-step oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) between October 2014 and June 2017. They were mainly assigned to two groups; the first group (n = 100) was designated as ART which was further subdivided into two subgroups as follows: 60 participants who received medical nutrition therapy (MNT) and 40 participants who received MNT plus insulin therapy (MNT-IT). The second group (n = 136) was labeled as the spontaneous conception (SC), consisting of 102 participants receiving MNT and 34 participants receiving MNT in combination with IT (MNT-IT). The demographic, clinical, and biochemical data were compared between groups. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to estimate prognostic factors for insulin therapy. RESULTS: A higher rate of insulin therapy was observed in the ART group as compared with the SC group (40% vs. 25%; P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated that maternal age ≥ 35 years [OR: 2.91, 95% CI: (1.28–6.62)], high serum FBS [1.10: (1.04–1.16)], HbA1c [1.91 (1.09–3.34)], and ART treatment [2.94: (1.24–6.96)] were independent risk factors for insulin therapy in GDM women. CONCLUSIONS: Apart from risk factors mentioned earlier, ART may be a possible prognostic factor for insulin therapy in pregnancies complicated with GDM.