Clinical laboratory values during diabetic pregnancies.

BACKGROUND: Physiological pregnancy can affect routine laboratory tests, e.g., the erythrocyte sedimentation rate increases above the reference range for healthy non-pregnant adults and little is known about whether diabetes and pregnancy together can cause additional changes that require monitoring of blood-tests.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in clinical chemistry and haematological laboratory test results during pregnancies of type 1 diabetics and to compare the results with changes during normal pregnancies.
METHODS: We studied 25 type 1 diabetic women with standard clinical chemistry and haematological blood-tests during pregnancy.
RESULTS: Haemoglobin, haematocrit, and erythrocyte number decreased until the 3rd trimester and leucocytes and platelets did not change significantly. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate increased by over 200%. Protein and albumin decreased until the 3rd trimester to below the reference range. Urea did not change, creatinine decreased and uric acid increased within the reference range. AST and ALT remained within the reference range. Alkaline phosphatase and leucine aminopeptidase increased until above the reference range. Cholesterol and triglycerides increased until the third trimester above results from normal pregnancies.
CONCLUSION: A wide range of biochemistry and haematology laboratory values changed during diabetic pregnancy comparable to physiological pregnancies. No additional routine laboratory-testing during diabetic pregnancies compared with physiological pregnancies is required.