C-reactive protein and features of metabolic syndrome in Brazilian women with previous gestational diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammatory biomarker, has been associated with the development of diabetes. Gestational diabetes (GDM) predicts type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and may be part of the metabolic syndrome (MS). Few studies have examined the association of CRP, MS and diabetes in women with previous GDM.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Women with previous GDM (n=70) and randomly sampled women without previous GDM (n=108) from the one center of the Brazilian Study of Gestational Diabetes participated in the study after 6 years of index pregnancy. Oral glucose tolerance test and anthropometry were performed. CRP levels were measured by the nephelometry. The MS was defined by the ATPIII criteria.

RESULTS: There was significant positive linear correlation between CRP levels, fasting insulin (R=0.053) and HOMA IR (0.048) in previous GDM. Mean CRP levels were significantly higher in previous GDM group with abdominal obesity (1.227 95% CI 0.871-1.584 versus 0.597, 95% CI 0.378-0.817; p=0.001) and abnormal glucose tolerance (1.168 95% CI 0.784-1.552 versus 0.657 95% CI 0.455-0.859, p=0.012). There were differences when considering the presence of different MS features, once the previous GDM group reported a significantly higher number of women with low HDL (74.3% versus 55.6%, p=0.016) and abnormal glucose tolerance (45.7% versus 25%, p=0.005) than the group without GDM. On average, the CRP levels were significantly higher in women with previous GDM and MS (0.918 95% CI 0.569; 1.268 versus 0.524 95% CI 0.373; 0.675, p=0.044) than the control group.

CONCLUSIONS: The data suggests that the presence of MS in women with previous GDM is associated with high levels of CRP.