Investigastion of maternal serum endocan concentrations in pregnant women with gestational diabetes

Objective: In this study, we aimed to use Endocan as a marker for early diagnosis by investigate maternal serum Endocan concentrations in healthy pregnant women and those diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Materials and Methods: Healthy pregnant women with normal OGTT results and those diagnosed with GDM who applied to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine were divided into a total of four groups. Group 1 consisted of 36 healthy pregnant women with a pre-pregnancy BMI of <25 kg/m², and Group 2 consisted of 29 healthy control group pregnant women with a pre-pregnancy BMI of ≥25 kg/m². Group 3 consisted of 16 pregnant women with GDM and a pre-pregnancy BMI of <25 kg/m², and Group 4 consisted of 60 pregnant women with GDM and a pre-pregnancy BMI of ≥25 kg/m². This study was conducted on a total of 141 cases. Maternal serum Endocan levels were investigated among the four groups. Results: Serum Endocan levels were significantly higher in the GDM groups (35.61 ± 19.26 pg/ml and 30.33 ± 45.81 pg/ml) compared to the control groups (3.79 ± 2.07 pg/ml and 3.99 ± 1.73 pg/ml) (p = 0,001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis for the detection of GDM identified a cut-off value of 9.276 pg/ml with a sensitivity of 98.7% and a specificity of 96.9% (AUC = 0.977, p < 0,001). Additionally, a statistically significant difference was observed in the gestational age at delivery among the groups (p = 0,004). Conclusion: Endocan levels were found to be significantly elevated in patients independent of BMI, indicating that GDM increases Endocan levels without the effect of obesity. Additionally, we observed that pregnant women with GDM and a BMI ≥25 kg/m² delivered at an earlier gestational age compared to the other groups. Our study suggests that Endocan may serve as a novel biomarker for the diagnosis and screening of GDM. However, more comprehensive studies are required before Endocan can replace OGTT in clinical practice for diagnosis and screening purposes. Keywords: Gestational diabetes, Endocan, obesity