Common obesity-related anthropometric indices and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus in a Chinese population: a prospective cohort study

Abstract

Objective Anthropometric measurement provides a simple, noninvasive approach to evaluate obesity in pregnant women. We aimed to develop a predictive model utilizing anthropometric index for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), the most common obesity-related complications during pregnancy.Methods A prospective cohort of 4709 women was enrolled in Qingdao, China. Logistic regression model was constructed to determine the association of body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in the first trimester (.05). Overall, VAT was positively correlated with GDM occurrence, outperforming BMI, WHR, WHtR and SAT in the predicative model. A first-trimester VAT cutoff of 27.05 mm might be promising for GDM risk stratification.Conclusions First-trimester routine ultrasound screening may facilitate earlier identification and intervention of GDM. Pregnant women with VAT above the optimal threshold (27.05 mm) might benefit from targeted GDM monitoring.

Keywords

• Gestational diabetes mellitus
• abdominal obesity
• body fat distribution
• anthropometric index
• visceral adipose tissue