Objective: To determine if maternal serum placental growth factor (PlGF) concentration at 11-14 weeks in pregnancies complicated by diabetes, including those with preexisting diabetes and those that developed gestational diabetes subsequently, differed from that in normal, uncomplicated pregnancies.
Study design: PlGF concentration was measured in stored maternal serum samples obtained at 11-14 weeks of gestation from 82 women with diabetic pregnancies, including 32 with preexisting diabetes and 50 with gestational diabetes, and 400 normal controls. Gestational diabetes mellitus was diagnosed with the 75-g oral glucose tolerance test and by applying World Health Organization criteria.
Results: When expressed as the multiple of the median and adjusted for gestation, the log transformed values of PlGF were significantly higher (P < .05) in the diabetic group (mean multiple of the median, [MoM] 1.14; SD 0.11) as compared to the controls (mean MoM, 1.00; SD, 0.11). On further comparison between the diabetic groups with the controls, significant differences were found in the groups with gestational diabetes (mean MoM, 1.15; SD, 0.12) and non-insulin dependent diabetes (mean MoM, 1.16; SD, 0.09) but not in those complicated by insulin-dependent diabetes (mean MoM, 1.09; SD, 0.10).
Conclusion: These findings suggest that in the first trimester of pregnancy the level of maternal PIGF was already significantly increased not only in pregnancies complicated by noninsulin dependent diabetes but also in those with gestational diabetes. The implications of these findings remain to be explored.