Introduction: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) increases risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The subclinical cardiovascular structural and functional changes that contribute to long-term cardiovascular risk are unclear.
Hypothesis: We hypothesized that GDM is associated with adverse cardiovascular remodeling, diastolic function abnormalities, and endothelial dysfunction at approximately a decade after delivery, thereby increasing CVD risk.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of women from an existing cohort with abstracted clinical pregnancy data. Women attended a follow-up visit at a median of 9 years after delivery. Echocardiograms, Peripheral Arterial Tonometry (EndoPAT), glycocalyx analysis (GlycoCheck) and laboratory testing were conducted at the follow-up visit.
Results: Among 217 women who attended the follow-up visit, 53 (24%) had history of GDM. After adjusting for age, race, preeclampsia history or preterm delivery, women with prior Compared to women without GDM, women with prior GDM had higher interventricular septal and left ventricular (LV) posterior wall thickness and lower septal eā velocity (Table; Model 2). They also had worse endothelial function with lower reactive hyperemia index (RHI) and adverse GlycoCheck parameters. Measures of hypertrophy were attenuated by additional adjustment for body mass index, hypertension, and diabetes (Model 3), but findings of adverse LV diastology, RHI and GlycoCheck parameters remained significant.
Conclusions: Women with GDM were more likely to have increased LV wall thickness, adverse diastology and endothelial dysfunction nearly a decade postpartum. Adjusting for traditional cardiovascular risk factors attenuated some but not all parameters. These findings suggest that subclinical structural and functional cardiac and vascular changes may be a mechanism by which GDM causes increased risk of CVD.
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