The weight and body mass index and the expression levels of a type of microarn can predict the risk of adult diabetes or type 2 in women with a previous diagnosis of gestational diabetes.
This is the main conclusion of an investigation carried out by the University of Oviedo, the Institute for Health Research of the Principality of Asturias (ISPA) and the Central University Hospital of Asturias (HUCA), which has just been published in the magazine «International Journal ofMolecular Sciences ».
The study has revealed, among other conclusions, that, fifteen years after the diagnosis of gestational diabetes, 50% of women who were part of the research present some degree of glucose intolerance, which is directly related to body weight and body weight andThe body mass index during pregnancy.In addition, women with alterations in their glucose levels also showed a significant level of a type of circulating microarn, specifically, the HSA-MIR-24-3P, the Asturian academic institution has reported.
The researcher of the Department of Medicine at the University of Oviedo and principal researcher of the Endocrinology, Nutrition, Diabetes and Obesity (Endo) group, Elías Delgado, said that the objective of the study is to evaluate the long -term effect of gestational diabetes mellitus inthe metabolism of glucose and the epigenetic changes it produces in the long term.With this purpose, thirty women selected at random were included in the work, which had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes during the years 2005 and 2006.
Thus, they were updating their glucose tolerance, by means of an overload with 75 grams of oral glucose.Additionally, four microarn (HSA-MIR-1-3P, HSA-MIR-24-3P, HSA-MIR-329-3P, HSA-MIR-543) were also selected, which were analyzed in the plasma of these women.
The professor at the University of Oviedo and the first signatory of this work, Jessica Ares, stressed that gestational diabetes mellitus is defined as any degree of glucose intolerance that is diagnosed for the first time during pregnancy and that disappears after childbirth.As indicated, the main risk factors for the development of this disease during pregnancy are overweight and obesity, the family history of diabetes and advanced maternal age.
Gestational diabetes
«The prevalence of gestational diabetes has increased to more than 30% in women over 40 and more than 40% in women over 45 years.In addition, women who have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes have a greater risk of developing type 2 or adult diabetes in the future, ”he said.
Compared to the general population, women with a personal history of diabetes during pregnancy have a risk to ten times greater to develop type 2 diabetes, the study maintains.The authors of the work state that, although gestational diabetes is diagnosed when metabolic alterations are already established, their diagnosis could be identified as an opportunity to intervene and control these women, in order to prevent the future development of type 2 diabetes.