Maternal ABO blood group and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between maternal ABO blood group and risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: Data on ABO phenotypes and pregnancy outcomes were collected from medical records of 5320 singleton pregnant women who had ABO blood testing and follow-up care until delivery in our institution. Adverse pregnancy outcomes that were studied in relation to maternal blood group included preeclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), preterm delivery, low birth weight (LBW) and small for gestational age (SGA) infants. RESULT: Out of 5320 women, 350 (6.6%), 333 (6.3%) and 543 (10.2%) women were diagnosed with preeclampsia, GDM and preterm delivery, respectively. LBW and SGA were, respectively, observed in 394 (7.4%) and 178 (3.3%) infants. By uni- and multivariable analyses, women with A or AB blood types, but not B, were found at increased risk of preeclampsia compared with O type individuals; adjusted relative risks were 1.7 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.3 to 2.3; P=0.001) for A phenotype and 1.7 (95% CI, 1.1 to 2.6; P=0.01) for AB phenotype. There were no significant relationships between blood types and GDM, preterm delivery, LBW or SGA. CONCLUSION: Maternal ABO blood group was associated with the risk of preeclampsia, but not with GDM, preterm delivery, LBW or SGA.

Diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus using a modified 100 g oral glucose tolerance test.

OBJECTIVE: To determine an optimal cutoff level of a modified 100 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) with its diagnostic performance for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). STUDY DESIGN: Obstetric records of 909 women who had undergone a 100 g OGTT were reviewed. A modified 100 g OGTT referred to a test using a summation of 1 and 2 h plasma glucose levels after 100 g glucose ingestion. The sensitivity and specificity of this summed glucose at various cutoff levels for diagnosing GDM were obtained. A receiver operating characteristic curve was then constructed to determine the optimal value for a GDM diagnosis. RESULT: Based on a conventional 100 g OGTT, GDM was detected in 155 women (17.1%). Using a modified 100 g OGTT, the optimal summed glucose value for GDM diagnosis was > or =341 mg 100 ml(-1) which yielded 93.5% sensitivity and 95.2% specificity. CONCLUSION: The modified 100 g OGTT demonstrated high diagnostic performance for GDM, with advantages over a conventional 100 g OGTT in terms of less time consuming, lower cost and fewer number of venipuncture.