Association between High Iron Status of pregnant women and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in Black Lion Specialized Hospital and Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Addis Ababa: A Case-Control Study

Abstract Background: Although excess iron in the body is reported to disrupt glucose homeostasis leading to beta cell damage and death such information is unavailable in the studied sites and thus we examined the association between high iron status of pregnant women and occurrence of Gestational Diabetes. Methods: A hospital based case control study was conducted from March to July 2022 among 128 pregnant women, 64 cases (pregnant women with GDM) and 64 controls (non-GDM pregnant women) in black lion specialized hospital and Gandhi memorial hospital. The data were collected through document reviews, face-to-face interviews and laboratory test were done. SPSS software version 24 was used for data processing and analysis. Binary logistic regressions were used to assess the association between the predictor variables and gestational diabetes mellitus. Result: A total of 128 of pregnant women comprising of 64 cases and 64 controls were included in the study. The mean age of respondents was 31.17±4.97 year among cases and 27.59±4.70 year among the controls. The concentration of serum ferritin were significantly higher among GDM cases (53.83±23.39 ng/ml) than controls (29.8±18.408 ng/ml). Physical activity AOR (2.68, CI: 1.031-6.96), parity AOR (3.48, CI: 1.197-10.11) and abortion AOR (3.360, CI: 1.25-8.98) were among the significant factors associated with gestational diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: The occurrence of gestational diabetic mellitus was significantly associated with the higher Serum ferritin levels, while such association was not observed with the hemoglobin level. Thus, it is time to revise the blanket iron supplementation strategy to all pregnant women to avert the odds of developing GDM.