Glucose tolerance in pregnant women with vaginal candidiasis.
BACKGROUND
The use of traditional historic risk factors to identify gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) will miss half of women with gestational diabetes mellitus. Our aim was to evaluate whether impaired glucose tolerance is a risk factor for vaginal candidiasis in pregnant women.


METHODS
In a cross-sectional study, we compared the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance in 64 pregnant women with vaginal candidiasis (positive microscopy) and 59 Candida-negative control subjects. Subjects underwent standardized 75-gram oral glucose tolerance testing between the 24th and 28th weeks of their pregnancies. Patients were included only if they had no known diabetes mellitus or historic risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus, and had not been receiving antibiotic or steroid therapy. We compared glucose levels at fasting, 30 minutes, 60 minutes and 120 minutes, and perinatal and neonatal outcomes in the two groups.


RESULTS
There were no statistical differences between cases and controls in demographic characteristics. Glucose concentrations were higher in pregnant women with vaginal candidiasis than in control subjects at fasting (89 vs. 84 mg/dL, P=0.021), 30 minutes (139 vs. 126 mg/dL, P=0.050), and 60 minutes (124 vs. 106 mg/dL, P= 0.018) after intake of 75 gram of glucose. The two groups did not differ in glucose level at 120 minutes after glucose administration. Gestational diabetes prevalence was 3.1% and 3.4% in the study and control group, respectively (P=0.274).


CONCLUSIONS
The tolerance to glucose in pregnant women with vaginal candidiasis seems discretely impaired.
Kelekci
Sefa
S
Second Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics, Ankara Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. sefakelekci2003@yahoo.com
Kelekci
Handan
H
Cetin
Meltem
M
Inan
Ismet
I
Tokucoglu
Selma
S
D000328:Adult; D002181:Candidiasis, Vulvovaginal / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D018149:Glucose Intolerance / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D015995:Prevalence; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology