ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Diabetes: Molecular Mechanisms
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1650654
This article is part of the Research TopicMaternal Metabolic Health: From Preconception to PostpartumView all 12 articles
Serum TyG Index and GDF-15 in Women with Gestational Diabetes: Associations with Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in Late Pregnancy
Provisionally accepted
- 1Wuchang Hospital, Wuhan, China
- 2The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China
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Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common metabolic disorder during pregnancy and is closely associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes (APO), such as preeclampsia, preterm birth, and macrosomia. The triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index and growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) have emerged as novel biomarkers in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. However, their potential relevance to APO in late pregnancy among women with GDM remains unclear. Methods: A total of 275 pregnant women diagnosed with GDM between January 2024 and March 2025 were enrolled in this study. Participants were categorized into two groups based on the presence or absence of APO: GDM patients with APO and GDM patients without APO. Serum levels of GDF-15 were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the TyG index was calculated using fasting triglyceride and glucose levels. Results: Compared with the GDM without APO group, patients in the GDM with APO group exhibited significantly higher serum levels of GDF-15 and TyG index (both p< 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that both the TyG index (OR=1.674, 95%CI:1.073-2.611, p< 0.05) and GDF-15 (OR=1.002, 95%CI:1.001-1.003, p<0.05) were independent predictors of APO. After adjusting for all potential confounders, restricted cubic spline analysis indicated a positive association between both biomarkers and the risk of APO. Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated that the combined model incorporating TyG and GDF-15 yielded an AUC of 0.722 (95%CI:0.661-0.784), suggesting good predictive performance. Conclusion: Elevated TyG index and GDF-15 levels in late pregnancy are potential predictive biomarkers for APO in women with GDM. Combined assessment of these markers may enhance clinical risk stratification and inform targeted management strategies.
Keywords: TyG index, GDF-15, GDM, Adverse pregnancy outcomes, Late pregnancy
Received: 20 Jun 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zeng, Mei and Mei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shulin Zeng, Wuchang Hospital, Wuhan, China
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