Methods A total of 132 cases of GDM pregnant women who attended Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of East Hospital of Shanghai Sixth People′s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Medicine & Health Sciences from January 2017 to December 2018 were selected as research subjects and were enrolled into study group. Another 132 cases of normal pregnant women who underwent prenatal examinations in the same hospital during the same period were selected as controls and included into control group. According to the results of vaginal secretions 6 joint examination, GDM pregnant women in study group were further divided into abnormal vaginal microecology subgroup (n=54) and normal vaginal microecology subgroup (n=78). The comparison of vaginal microecological imbalance rate between study group and control group was performed by chi-square test. Weight before pregnancy, weight gain during pregnancy, fasting blood glucose, oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) 2 h blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and glycosylated albumin (GA) levels between two subgroups were compared by independent-samples t test. The incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes between pregnant women and their neonates in two subgroups was compared by chi-square test. This study was in line with the requirements of World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki revised in 2013.
Results ①In study group, there were 7 cases of bacterial vaginosis (BV), 1 case of BV combined with trichomonas vaginitis (TV), 3 cases of BV combined with vulvovaginal candida (VVC), 2 cases of TV, 10 cases of VVC, and 31 cases of other types of vaginitis. And in control group, there were 2 cases of BV, 4 cases of VVC, and 7 cases of other types of vaginitis. The rate of vaginal microecological imbalance was 40.9% (54/132) in study group, which was significantly higher than that of control group 9.8% (13/132), and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=33.623, P<0.001). ②Weight gain during pregnancy, HbA1c and GA levels of GDM pregnant women in abnormal vaginal microecology subgroup were (19.5±2.7) kg, (9.5±1.3)% and (11.2±1.2)%, respectively, which were all significantly higher than those in normal vaginal microecology subgroup, and all the differences were statistically significant (t=3.406, P=0.020; t=3.313, P=0.026; t=3.014, P=0.039). ③In GDM pregnant women of abnormal vaginal microecology subgroup, the incidence rates of premature birth, puerperal infection, low birth weight infant and infection of the infants were 22.2% (12/54), 25.9% (14/54), 20.4% (11/54), and 9.3% (5/54), respectively, which were statistically higher than those in normal vaginal microecology subgroup 9.0% (7/78), 11.5% (9/78), 7.7% (6/78) and 2.6% (2/78), respectively, and all the differences were statistically significant (χ2=4.545, P=0.008; χ2=4.591, P=0.032; χ2=4.571, P=0.033; χ2=4.525, P=0.033).
Conclusions The vaginal microecological imbalance rate of pregnant women with GDM is higher than that of normal pregnant women. The weight gain during pregnancy, HbA1c and GA are important factors of vaginal microecological imbalance in GDM pregnant women, and their abnormal increase can increase the occurrence of adverse pregnancy outcomes in GDM pregnant women.