ABSTRACT

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a condition which is recognized initially in nondiabetic pregnant women who develop raised blood sugar levels which goes normal after delivering fetus.In physiological adaptations ofpregnancythe level of numerous hormones generally are increased. In the present study the responses of thecortisol in pregnancy have been investigated in gestational diabetes and non-GDM subjects specially in context of positive and negative family history in second and third trimester.The present cross sectional 2 stage study with non-probability convenient sampling was done in Arif Memorial Teaching Hospital, Lahore and Hameed Latif Hospital, Lahore. 110 pregnant females from rural and urban areas of Lahore were the study population, out of which 55 had GDM and 55 were controls/non-GDM. The results were analyzed in relation to GDM, non-GDM, positive family history in second and third semester.In second trimester cortisol were found increased several times in GDM than non GDM subjects Cortisol showed 51% and 100% increases in positive and negative family history. In third trimester also the responses of this hormone were numerous times increases in GDM than non-GDM. The pattern of these increases was varied in positive and negative family history subjects. The analysis of results of the hormones within GDM and non-GDM category and between the semesters has shown some noticeable and statistically noticeable results.The excessive increases of cortisol do support the general opinion that this hormone is one of thecause of insulin resistance in GDM. The significantly varied responses of this hormone in different family history of the subjects and in different trimester clearly demonstrate that other mechanisms are certainly involved in the initiation of insulin resistance in GDM.

Keywords: Cortisol, Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, Family History