A Cross-Sectional Study on the Accuracy of Glycated Albumin in Diagnosing Pregnancies Complicated with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Background: The diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus is made using the oral glucose tolerance test. Conducting this test requires patient preparation. Meanwhile, glycated albumin does not require the patient to be prepared. Glycated albumin is affected by ethnicity and black Americans have higher glycated albumin levels than Caucasians. This study determined the use of glycated albumin in diagnosing gestational diabetes mellitus among pregnant women.

Materials and Method: The study was a prospective cross-sectional study of 200 pregnant women between 24 to 28 weeks of gestation at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. The diagnosis of Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) was based on the World Health Organization 2013 diagnostic criteria. The diagnostic cut-off of glycated albumin was determined using the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve. The comparison of means was done using the Student’s T-test.

Results: The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve for glycated albumin was 0.8 and the optimal cut-off value of glycated albumin in the diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus was 19%. Glycated albumin was significantly elevated in women with gestational diabetes mellitus compared to women without gestational diabetes mellitus at P<0.001.

Conclusion: Glycated albumin has an area under the ROC curve of 0.85 with an optimal cut-off value of 19.0%. Glycated albumin is significantly elevated in women with GDM than in women without GDM with a sensitivity of 83.3% and a specificity of 86.8%. Therefore, glycated albumin can be used to diagnose GDM.