Relationship between iron metabolism and gestational diabetes mellitus: A systemic review and meta analysis

Background and Objectives: To investigate the relationship between serum iron metabolism indexes and gesta-tional diabetes mellitus (GDM) using a meta-analysis. Methods and Study Design: Databases including Pub -Med, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched. Prospective cohort or case-control studies evaluating the relationships between serum iron metabolism indexes and GDM were retrieved from these data-bases. The outcome indicators, such as mean ?? standard deviation, relative risk (RR), or odds ratio (OR) were ex-tracted. The RR or OR, standard mean difference (SMD), and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to calcu-late the combined effect sizes. Results: A total of 32 studies on the relationships between serum iron metabolic indexes and GDM were included. The serum iron [SMD=0.40 mg/dL, 95% CI (0.16, 0.64), p=0.001], ferritin [SMD=0.58 ng/mL, 95% CI (0.35, 0.81), p<0.001], hemoglobin [SMD=0.48 g/dL, 95% CI (0.28, 0.67), p<0.001], transferrin saturation [SMD=0.83%, 95% CI (0.15, 1.52), p=0.000], and hepcidin [SMD=0.63 ng/mL, 95% CI (0.09, 1.18), p=0.023] levels were higher in the GDM group than in the non-GDM group, whereas total iron bind -ing ability [SMD =-0.53 ??g/dL, 95% CI (-1.05,-0.02), p=0.001] was lower in the GDM group than in the non-GDM group. High serum ferritin [OR=1.92, 95% CI (1.59, 2.32), p<0.001] and hemoglobin levels [OR=1.30, 95% CI (1.04,1.63), p=0.023] were associated with GDM risk. Conclusions: Serum iron, ferritin, transferrin satu-ration, hepcidin, and hemoglobin levels were higher and total iron binding ability was lower in GDM patients than in those without GDM. High serum ferritin and hemoglobin levels were associated with GDM risk.

Automated summary

This meta-analysis investigated the relationship between serum iron metabolism indexes and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). The results showed that GDM patients had higher levels of serum iron, ferritin, transferrin saturation, hepcidin, and hemoglobin, and lower total iron binding ability compared to non-GDM patients. High serum ferritin and hemoglobin levels were associated with an increased risk of GDM.