Inflammatory cytokines and risk of gestational diabetes

<p><b>Background: </b>Over the last decade, an emerging role of novel cytokines in the pathogenesis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has been proposed by researches. The present study was performed to provide a more accurate estimate of the effect size of the association between leptin, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and risk of GDM.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> Online databases were looked up to August 2021 using the search string: (leptin OR TNF-α OR IL-6) AND "gestational diabetes". Observational studies investigating the association of the selected cytokines and risk of GDM were included. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to estimate pooled effect.</p> <p><b>Results: </b>19 studies were included in the meta-analysis (6792 women; 1405 diagnosed with GDM). A significant association was found between higher circulating leptin and risk of GDM and the pooled estimate was 1.15 (95%CI: 1.05, 1.26). Higher circulating levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were associated with increased risk of GDM and the pooled estimates were 2.00 (95%CI: 1.20, 3.31) and 1.29 (95%CI: 1.13, 1.46), respectively.</p> <p><b>Conclusions: </b>The selected cytokines might be used as potential markers in predicting GDM and considered as contributing factors to the GDM pathogenesis.</p>