Effect of Elevated Ketone Body on Maternal and Infant Outcome of Pregnant Women with Abnormal Glucose Metabolism During Pregnancy

Abstract

Ketone bodies are one of the products of fat metabolism which can be used as an alternative energy source for the human body in states of glucose deficiency. Normal pregnant women may develop ketosis due to physiological changes during pregnancy, while pregnant women with abnormal glucose metabolism are more likely to develop ketosis due to abnormal insulin secretion. Animal experiments and clinical studies have shown that exposure to high-ketone environments during pregnancy is closely related to adverse maternal and infant outcomes. However, there is no unified conclusion on whether ketone bodies should be routinely monitored during pregnancy. This review summarizes the existing studies on ketone body levels and pregnancy outcomes in the case of abnormal blood glucose during pregnancy, elaborates the current guidelines on the level of ketone bodies, provides the detection and treatment of ketosis in pregnant women with abnormal blood glucose in the clinical practice.

Keywords:

• diabetic ketoacidosis
• gestational diabetes mellitus
• ketoacidosis
• pregestational diabetes mellitus
• diabetes mellitus

Statement of Ethics

This article does not contain any studies with human or animals performed by any of the authors. 

Consent for publication

Agreed to publish.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge Haitao Shen for providing intellectual support and technical assistance.

Author Contributions

Meichen Qian devised the project, collect material and wrote the manuscript. Na Wu, Ling Li helped with the discussion, supervised the project and provided critical feedback. All authors made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; took part in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; gave final approval of the version to be published; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81700706), the Clinical Research Project of Liaoning Diabetes Medical Nutrition Prevention Society (LNSTNBYXYYFZXH-RS01B) and the 345 Talent Project of Shengjing Hospital.