Single Fasting Plasma Glucose Versus 75-g Oral Glucose-Tolerance Test in Prediction of Adverse Perinatal Outcomes: A Cohort Study

Background There remains uncertainty regarding whether a single fasting glucose measurement is sufficient to predict risk of adverse perinatal outcomes. Methods We included 12,594 pregnant women who underwent a 75-g oral glucose-tolerance test (OGTT) at 22–28 weeks’ gestation in the Born in Guangzhou Cohort Study, China. Outcomes were large for gestational age (LGA) baby, cesarean section, and spontaneous preterm birth. We calculated the area under the receiver operator characteristic curves (AUCs) to assess the capacity of OGTT glucose values to predict adverse outcomes, and compared the AUCs of different components of OGTT. Results 1325 women had a LGA baby (10.5%). Glucose measurements were linearly associated with LGA, with strongest associations for fasting glucose (odds ratio 1.37, 95% confidence interval 1.30–1.45). Weaker associations were observed for cesarean section and spontaneous preterm birth. Fasting glucose have a comparable discriminative power for prediction of LGA to the combination of fasting, 1 h, and 2 h glucose values during OGTT (AUCs, 0.611 vs. 0.614, P = 0.166). The LGA risk was consistently increased in women with abnormal fasting glucose (≥ 5.1 mmol/l), irrespective of 1 h or 2 h glucose levels. Conclusions A single fasting glucose measurement performs comparably to 75-g OGTT in predicting risk of having a LGA baby.