Decreased plasma visfatin concentrations in women with gestational diabetes mellitus.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that plasma visfatin concentrations will be lower in women with gestational diabetes mellitus, we evaluated women with gestational diabetes mellitus and healthy pregnant women, and then correlated their plasma visfatin concentrations with body mass index (BMI) and various other parameters.

Methods: A total of 40 women were evaluated: 20 women with gestational diabetes mellitus and 20 healthy pregnant women to serve as control subjects. Plasma visfatin concentrations were analyzed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: Plasma visfatin concentrations were significantly lower in the gestational diabetes mellitus group (9.4 +/- 3.8 ng/mL) than in the healthy control group (12.6 +/- 4.5 ng/mL) (P = .023). A negative correlation was found between plasma visfatin concentrations and maternal age (r = -0.399, P = .011), first trimester body weight (r = -0.350, P = .027), and first trimester BMI (r = -0.336, P = .034). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that maternal age (P = .017) and gestational diabetes mellitus/no gestational diabetes mellitus (P = .044) were independently related to plasma visfatin concentrations. However, no relationship was found with either gestational age at the time of sampling or first trimester BMI.

Conclusions: Our results show that there are decreased concentrations of plasma visfatin in gestational diabetes mellitus subjects and this may indicate that visfatin plays a role in the pathogenesis of gestational diabetes mellitus. However, further experiments are needed to clarify this role.