Sialic acid levels in the blood in pregnant women with impaired glucose tolerance test

Purpose Gestational diabetes (GDM) is a metabolic disease characterized by the impairment of glucose tolerance during pregnancy. Sialic acid (SA) is a component of glycolipid and glycoproteins found in hormone and enzymes in serum and tissues and high serum SA levels are observed in diabetic patients. Methods Serum SA levels were investigated in three groups, namely 61 normal pregnant women with normal 50 gr glucose loading test (group 1: gr 1), 36 patients with high 50 gr test values and normal 100 gr test (group 2: gr 2: group with impaired glucose tolerance test, IGT), and 8 patients with diagnosis of GDM (group 3:gr 3). Results According to Kruskal–Wallis test, significant difference was observed in SA levels between gr1 and gr2– gr3 (p = 0.001). Difference was observed between groups with respect to age (p\0.001), the number of pregnancies (p = 0.001), BMI (p = 0.001), and diabetes history in the family (p = 0.001) (Table 1). Conclusion Our study demonstrated that SA values are increased in GDM and IGT groups, which demonstrates that inflammatory disorders may occur also in IGT group, which is considered like normal pregnancy, and that this group may be considered in the same way as GDM.