Relationships of lipoprotein lipids to mild fasting hyperglycemia and diabetes in pregnancy.

The available data have been examined to determine if plasma lipids or lipoproteins are altered in pregnant subjects with adult-onset (type II) diabetes, gestational diabetes, or the hyperglycemic extreme of a randomly selected group of pregnant women attending a prepaid health plan. In each of these groups, a trend is observed toward an increase in total plasma and very low density lipoprotein triglycerides and a decrease in high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. These observations indicate that measurements of plasma triglyceride and HDL cholesterol may be valuable in identifying and quantifying the metabolic abnormality in gestational diabetes and in prognosticating fetal outcome.