Association of Body Mass Index with Activin-A and Inhibin-A in Gestational Diabetic Women

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the association of body mass index (BMI) with Activin-A and Inhibin-A (biomarkers) irrespective to age in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).Methods: This study was a case-controlled study, in which sixty (60) diagnosed cases of gestational diabetic women with and without obesity and thirty (30) pregnant women without diabetes or any other complications were included in the study after taking informed written consent. The duration of the study was from January 2018 to June 2018. The enrolled participants were ninety (90) who were fulfilling the criteria in the duration of the study. Participants were placed into three groups A, B and C. In group A, thirty (30) pregnant females without complications, in group B thirty (30) non-obese pregnant women with gestationaldiabetes and in group C thirty (30) obese pregnant females with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). The biophysical parameters including weight, height and blood pressure were measured through standard protocols. Blood tests for biomarkers Activin-A and Inhibin-A levels were measured through Human Activin-A enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) kit and Human Inhibin-A ELISA kit respectively.Results: The results of the study revealed that the biophysical markers Actin-A and Inhibin-A had associations with gestational diabetes, the significant (p-value<0.05) association was observed between Activin-A and body mass index but Inhibin-A had an insignificant association with it. However, the levels of bothbiomarkers (Activin-A and Inhibin-A) were found to be raised in both obese and non-obese gestational diabetic women when compared with normal pregnant women. The secondary outcome of the study is, there is significant (p-value>0.05) relation between age and body mass index of obese GDM.Conclusion: The study concluded that the level of Activin-A was raised significantly (p-value>0.05) in obese and non-obese gestational diabetic women as compared to normal pregnant women and non-significant increases in inhibin-A were observed in obese and non-obese gestational diabetic women as compared to normal pregnant women. A secondary outcome was, that there is significant (p-value>0.05) association found between body mass index and age of the pregnant women.