Previous gestational diabetes is independently associated with increased carotid intima-media thickness, similarly to metabolic syndrome – a case control study

This is a cross-sectional study performed in two academic referral centers. Seventy-nine women with pGDM, 30 women with MS, and 60 CG aged between 18 and 47 years were enrolled. They all underwent physical examination and had blood glucose, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc), and triglycerides determined. The cIMT was measured by ultrasound in several carotid segments. The primary endpoint was cIMT and clinically relevant parameters included as predictors were: age, systolic blood pressure, waist, BMI, total cholesterol, LDLc, triglycerides, fasting glucose, previous history of GDM as a whole group, previous history of GDM without MS, presence of DM, presence of MS, and parity.cIMT was significantly higher in pGDM when compared to CG in all sites of measurements (P？<？0.05) except for the right common carotid. The pGDM women showed similar cIMT measurements to MS in all sites of measurements, except for the left carotid bifurcation, where it was significantly higher than MS (P？<？0.001). In a multivariate analysis which included classical cardiovascular risk factors and was adjusted for confounders, pGDM was shown to be independently associated with increased composite cIMT (P？<？0.01). The pGDM without risk factors further showed similar cIMT to MS (P？>？0.05) and an increased cIMT when compared to controls (P？<？0.05).Previous GDM was independently associated with increased composite cIMT in this young population, similarly to those with MS and regardless the presence of established cardiovascular risk factors.Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a carbohydrate intolerance detected during pregnancy and its prevalence rate varies between 1-14% [1]. Besides the well-known impact of GDM for the fetus, its effects after pregnancy have been acknowledged [2]. A recent meta-analysis showed a 7.5 times increase in the risk of type 2 diabetes in women with previous GDM and this risk was shown to increase even fu