Correlation between serum leptin levels and insulin resistance in gestational diabetes

Objective To investigate the relationship between serum leptin levels and insulin resistance in gestational diabetes.Methods The study enrolled forty-three patients with newly diagnosed gestational diabetes(GDM) and forty-five healthy pregnancy women control subjects.Fasting serum leptin levels were measured along with insulin,fasting glucose,2-Hr postprandial glucose and lipids.The lipids include total cholesterol,triglycerides,HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol.Insulin resistance was investigated by the homeostasis model assessment(HOMA) indexes.Results Fasting glucose and insulin levels in the gestational diabetes patients were significantly increased compared with controls.The HOMA-IR indexes were also higher than controls.The levels of serum leptin in GDM(8.22±1.87 ng/ml) were significantly higher than that in controls(1.15±0.37 ng/ml).There was significantly different between the two groups(t=2.10,P0.05).And the serum hormone levels of estrogen(21.7±5.5ng/ml),progesterone(199.9±30.7 ng/ml) and prolactin(PRL,5.5±1.1IU/ml) were elevated in patients of GDM compared with the pregnancy women of controls(P0.05).Multiple regression analysis showed that FINS and HOMA-IR significantly correlated with the serum leptin levels.The levels of leptin had the trend of ascent with the weeks of pregnancy.Conclusion Beside the physiological insulin resistance(IR),there also has pathological insulin resistance in GDM patients.And because of the antagonism of the leptin and insulin,giving extrinsic anti-leptin drugs maybe provide a new avenue to the treatment of GDM.