Low Levels of Vitamin D During Pregnancy Associated with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Low Birth Weight: Results from the MAASTHI Birth Cohort

Overview

Journal Front Nutr

Specialty Nutritional Sciences

Date 2024 Jun 18

PMID 38887504

Authors

R Deepa

Onno C P van Schayck

Giridhara R Babu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Introduction: India has a high prevalence of Vitamin D insufficiency among women of childbearing age. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the potential relationship between Vitamin D deficiency and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and low birth weight (LBW) of newborns in the "Maternal antecedents of adiposity and studying the transgenerational role of hyperglycaemia and insulin" (MAASTHI) birth cohort.

Methods: A prospective cohort study involving 230 participants was conducted in public hospitals located in urban Bengaluru, India. Healthy pregnant women who visited these hospitals for antenatal care (ANC) and who were between 14 and 36 weeks of gestational age were recruited after obtaining their informed consent. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was administered between 24 and 36 weeks of pregnancy and blood samples were preserved at -80°C for Vitamin D analysis. Follow-up at birth included recording the child's birth weight.

Results: We found that 178 (77.4%) of the study participants were vitamin D deficient, 44 (19.1%) were diagnosed with GDM, and 64 (27.8%) gave birth to LBW babies. Women in the lowest quartile of serum Vitamin D levels had three times higher odds of developing GDM than women in the higher quartiles [OR = 3.22 (95% CI: 1.03, 10.07), = 0.04] after adjusting for age, parity, socioeconomic status, season, and adiposity. For every one-unit increase in Vitamin D levels, Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) decreased by nearly 18%. Furthermore, causal mediation analysis showed that a decrease in one unit of Vitamin D is associated with a decrease of 0.015 units of fasting blood sugar (FBS) and 0.019 units of postprandial blood sugar (PPBS) as it flows through the mediator variable insulin resistance. Vitamin D-deficient women were twice at risk of giving birth to LBW babies (OR 2.04, 95% CI 0.99, 4.19, = 0.05).

Discussions: Low levels of Vitamin D during pregnancy are associated with a greater risk of pregnant women developing GDM and giving birth to LBW babies in urban Bengaluru.

Citing Articles

Protocol of the Nutritional, Psychosocial, and Environmental Determinants of Neurodevelopment and Child Mental Health (COINCIDE) study.

Lobo E, R D, Mandal S, Menon J, Roy A, Dixit S Wellcome Open Res. 2025; 9:486.

PMID: 39882387 PMC: 11775445. DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.22817.2.

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