Body fat distributions differentiate the risk of type 2 diabetes in women with a history of gestational diabetes.

AIMS: To explore whether postpartum body fat distributions can predict type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) risk in women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

METHODS

Data of 442 women with GDM history from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2018 were adopted. Body fat distributions were measured via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and analyzed with 14 DXA-derived indices. The association between body fat distributions and risk of T2DM in women with a history of GDM was assessed using multivariable logistic regression.

RESULTS

We found that T2DM risk was positively associated with the android-to-gynoid ratio (ratio of A to G), visceral adipose tissue mass (VATM), total abdominal fat mass (TATM), android percent fat (APFAT), and android fat mass (ANFM), but negatively associated with gynoid fat mass (GYFM) and gynoid percent fat (GPFAT) in women with history of GDM. VATM possessed the highest predictability for T2DM risk among the eight indices (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] = 0.78).

CONCLUSIONS

Postpartum visceral, hip and thigh fat distribution can predict T2DM risk in women with a history of GDM. VATM is of the best predictability for T2DM risk among the eight indices.