Pre-pregnancy LDL/HDL and total Cholesterol/HDL ratios are strong predictors of gestational diabetes mellitus in women undergoing assisted reproductive technologies.

Background & objective: To analyze whether there is an association between pre-pregnancy lipid parameters and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in women undergoing assisted reproductive technologies (ART), a group especially at risk for GDM, and if so, which parameter is associated the strongest.

Methods: Data was collected at the Reproductive and Genetic Hospital CITIC-Xiangya in Changsha, China from January 2017 to December 2018. The measured lipid parameters include LDL (low-density lipoprotein), HDL (high-density lipoprotein), TC (total cholesterol), and TG (triglycerides).

Results: 119 (15.5%) of the 767 patients developed GDM. On average, women who developed GDM were older, had a higher BMI, LDL, TC, and TG, and lower HDL. After adjusting for confounders, LDL and HDL showed a significant association with GDM (p < 0.05), but TC and TG did not. Binary LDL/HDL and TC/HDL ratios showed the strongest association with GDM incidence (OR 1.957 [95%CI 1.258-3.044] and 1.942 [1.243-3.034] respectively). Subgroup analysis showed that an elevated LDL/HDL ratio also increased GDM risk in subgroups with a typically lower prevalence of GDM, such as young women with a low BMI and low blood pressure. Both lipid ratios (LDL/HDL and TC/HD) show strong interactions with baseline age, fasting plasma glucose, and LH.

Conclusions: In this cohort of Chinese women undergoing ART, pre-pregnancy LDL/HDL and TC/HDL were associated with GDM the strongest from the lipid parameters and could be useful to estimate GDM risk even before ART treatments and pregnancy.

Clinical trial number: NCT03503006 registered on the 21st of March 2018 (on clinicaltrials.gov). https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03503006?locStr=Changsha,%20Hunan,%20China&country=China&state=Hunan&city=Changsha&cond=ivf&rank=2 .