Investigating the effects of progesterone-derived medication during first and second trimesters on the gestational diabetes development and gestational outcomes

Objective: We aimed to compare newborn outcomes and blood glucose values of 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in pregnant women who were diagnosed gestational diabetes mellitus and did not receive progesterone in 1st and 2nd trimesters and the pregnant women who received progesterone for at least 4 weeks. Methods: This single-center, retrospective, cross-sectional case study was conducted on pregnant women who were admitted to our obstetrics polyclinic between January 2014 and June 2016. A total of 337 pregnant women who were established with the diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus during their pregnancies followed up and delivered at our clinic were included in the study. The patients were separated into two groups as those received progesterone during 1st or 2nd trimester of their pregnancies (n=59) and those did not receive progesterone (n=278). The data were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: While there was no statistically significant difference between the group not receiving progesterone-derived medication and the group receiving progesterone-derived medication in terms of mean 0-hour and 2-hour blood glucose values of 75-g OGTT, 1hour blood glucose values were significantly higher in the group receiving progesterone (p<0.05). This high value was observed in pregnant women who received 17-OH progesterone caproate, which is a weekly injection form of progesterone derivatives. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of birth weight, and 1-minute and 5-minute APGAR scores. Conclusion: We found significant increase in 1-hour values of 75-g OGTT in pregnant women who received 17-OH progesterone caproate for at least four weeks during first and second trimesters of their pregnancies. Further studies are required to compare our results since our population is small.