Glycated albumin level during late pregnancy as a predictive factor for neonatal outcomes of women with diabetes

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the association between glycated albumin (GA) in diabetic mothers and complications in their children, and to determine GA cutoff values for predicting complications in infants.

Materials and methods: This hospital-based case-control study involved 71 Japanese diabetic mothers and their children. Mean GA values were compared between mothers of infants with and without complications, and relationship with number of complications was analyzed by Pearson’s correlation. Receiver operating characteristic analysis determined GA cutoff values for complications in infants.

Results: GA was significantly higher in mothers of children with neonatal hypoglycemia (15.8 ± 3.2 versus 12.6 ± 1.2%, p <.001), respiratory disorders (15.7 ± 3.6 versus 12.9 ± 1.9%, p <.001), hypocalcemia (15.9 ± 3.7 versus 13.1 ± 1.8%, p <.001), polycythemia (15.7 ± 2.3 versus 13.8 ± 2.1%, p =.009), myocardial hypertrophy (16.1 ± 3.7 versus 13.1 ± 2.3%, p <.001), and large-for-date status (15.8 ± 2.4 versus 13.7 ± 3.1%, p = .006), showing significant positive correlation with number of complications in infants (r = .704, 95%CI: 0.579–0.797, p < .001). Cut-off values were within the limits of 13.6–14.7%.

Conclusions: GA is useful for predicting pregnancy outcomes in mothers with diabetes and must be maintained at low levels to prevent complications in infants.

Keywords:

• Glycated albumin
• neonatal complications
• gestational diabetes
• pre-pregnancy diabetes
• glycated hemoglobin

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the staff at our faculty and the study participants.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.