Gestational Diabetes and Vitamin D

Vitamin D plays an important role in glucose tolerance by stimulating insulin secretion and evidences suggest a contradictory result on the association between vitamin D status and risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This meta-analysis was undertaken to find out the joined effect of vitamin D status on the risk of effect GDM considering previously published articles (1). Data were collected through literature search using electronic databases to retrieve relevant published research articles using various combinations of the following keywords, "vitamin D," "vitamin D deficiency," "cholecalciferol," "25-hydroxyvitamin D," "25(OH) D," "gestational diabetes mellitus," and "GDM." A total of 36 studies including 7,596 GDM cases and 23,377 non-GDM controls were involved in this study. Overall, pooled meta-analysis showed that pregnant women diagnosed with GDM have 18% higher risk of GDM risk when compared with controls. Subgroup analysis showed significant results with age more than 30 years, Asian and European regions, and case-control, cross-sectional, and nested case-control study design. The authors conclude that low concentration of vitamin D is associated with the development of GDM.