A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Association between Vitamin D Deficiency and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Introduction: Vitamin D deficiency has become quite prevalent and is known to cause a great many diseases. Numerous studies have investigated the association between vitamin D deficiency and gestational diabetes, and the results are somewhat contradictory. The present study deals with the relationship between the vitamin D deficiency and gestational diabetes. Methods: Two researchers made use of MeSH, Scopus, PubMed database, Science Direct, the Cochrane Library, the Web of Science, CINAHL, and Google Scholar search engines to identify qualified studies and articles carried out and published before August 2017 and reported the risk of gestational diabetes developing as a result of vitamin D deficiency. The association between the two conditions was measured using odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Funnel plots, Egger’s, and Begg’s tests were also used to assess publication bias. All analysis was done by STATA (version 11.2). Results: Twenty-nine eligible studies with a total of 14,497 participants were included in the final analysis. Overall, maternal vitamin D insufficiency was significantly associated with a greater risk of gestational diabetes (OR = 1.15; 95% CI, 1.00-1.30; p<0.001). Serum 25OHD was significantly lower in participants with gestational diabetes mellitus than in those with natural glucose tolerance (−29.7 nmol/L, 95% CI, −36.6 to −22.8; p=0.000). Conclusion: According to the current meta-analysis results, vitamin D deficiency is correlated with the risk of gestational diabetes development.