Objective: To compare vitamin D level among the patients of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) with healthy controls in a tertiary care hospital in north India.

Methods: This was a case-control study. The pregnant women aged between 18-40 years, at 24-28 weeks of gestational age and willing to participate in the study were included in the study. Vitamin D level was measured in both cases and controls. GDM was defined as blood sugar level between 140 -199 mg/dl.

Results: More than half of both cases (55%) and controls (56.7%) were between 20-30 years. The percentage of deficiency was observed in 61.7% of cases and in 15% of controls. The deficiency was found to be 15.17 times significantly higher in cases compared to controls (OR=15.17, 95%CI=5.85-39.32, p=0.0001). A lower BMI was found in vitamin D deficient patients than insufficiency and sufficient, however, the difference was statistically insignificant (p>0.05).

Conclusion: The deficiency of vitamin D was more common among the pregnant women with GDM than without GDM. Informing women of the importance of maintaining adequate vitamin D stores in pregnancy, particularly for those at greatest risk of vitamin D deficiency is required.

Keywords: Pregnant women, Gestational diabetes mellitus, Vitamin D.

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Dr Preeti Bhatnagar
Associate Professor, Department of Physiology,

Heritage Institute of Medical Sciences & Research
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh