title: Glycosylated haemoglobin and hypertension arising in pregnancy.
abstract: We analysed a database of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1) in nondiabetic pregnant women to investigate the relation between glucose metabolism in the first and second trimesters and hypertensive complications of pregnancy. From a total of 1334 women, 13 had pre-existing hypertension, 225 developed gestational hypertension and 51 developed pre-eclampsia. At 28 weeks of gestation, the women who subsequently developed gestational hypertension had a significantly higher mean HbA1 than those who remained normotensive (6.33 vs 6.17%, P < 0.02). This difference remained significant after correcting for the effects of age and body mass index (regression coefficient 0.11, SE 0.06, P = 0.05). In contrast, there were no significant differences in HbA1 between the women with pre-eclampsia and their normotensive counterparts. This provides indirect evidence to support our hypothesis that gestational hypertension is associated with insulin resistance but pre-eclampsia is not.
authors.affiliation: The Ulster Hospital, Dundonald.
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Traub
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Hadden
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011249:Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / Q000378:metabolism*; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin