ABSTRACT
AIM: To evaluate clinical characteristics and perinatal outcomes in a heterogeneous population of Caucasians born in Italy and High Migration Pressure Countries (HMPC) women with GDM living in Piedmont, North Italy. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data from 586 women referring to our unit (2015-2020). Epidemiological (age and country of origin) and clinical-metabolic features (height, weight, family history of DM, parity, previous history of GDM, OGTT results, and GDM treatment) were collected. The database of certificates of care at delivery was consulted in relation to neonatal/maternal complications (rates of caesarean sections, APGAR score, fetal malformations, and neonatal anthropometry). RESULTS: 43.2% of women came from HMPC; they were younger (p < 0.0001) and required insulin treatment more frequently than Caucasian women born in Italy (χ 2 = 17.8, p=0.007). Higher fasting and 120-minute OGTT levels and gestational BMI increased the risk of insulin treatment (OGTT T0: OR = 1.04, CI 95% 1.016-1.060, p=0.005; OGTT T120: OR = 1.01, CI 95% 1.002-1.020, p=0.02; BMI: OR = 1.089, CI 95% 1.051-1.129, p < 0.0001). Moreover, two or more diagnostic OGTT glucose levels doubled the risk of insulin therapy (OR = 2.03, IC 95% 1.145-3.612, p=0.016). We did not find any association between ethnicities and neonatal/maternal complications. CONCLUSIONS: In our multiethnic GDM population, the need for intensive care and insulin treatment is high in HPMC women although the frequency of adverse peripartum and newborn outcomes does not vary among ethnic groups. The need for insulin therapy should be related to different genetic backgrounds, dietary habits, and Nutrition Transition phenomena. Thus, nutritional intervention and insulin treatment need to be tailored.
ABSTRACT
Current theories on the pathogenesis of diabetic microangiopathy and their effective therapeutical implications are reviewed. The possible role of insulin antibody production in insulin-treated diabetics concerning development and progression of retinopathy is particularly discussed. Thus the opportunity of a monocomponent (MC) insulin treatment in all newly diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetics is considered. The authors have carried out fluorescein angiography in two groups of subjects with JOD comparable for age, sex, diabetes duration (5-7 years), insulin requirement, metabolic control, absence of diabetic heredity as well as of clinical (ophtalmoscopic) signs of microangiopathy (retinopathy). The first group had been treated from the beginning with MC porcine insulin (Monotard) only; the second one with conventional Lente only. Early fluoroangiographic signs of retinopathy ("pre-retinopathy") as increased capillary filling, ischaemic areas, alterations in capillary permeability, microangioaneurysms, "primary exudation" had to be detected. In 2 out of 10 cases in the first group one isolated sign was found; one or more signs were found in the second group. In the first group the insulin antibody titer (IB) was under or nearly above the detection limit; in the second group insulin antibody titer was significantly positive. These preliminary findings suggest a larger prospective study.
