Results
A total of 80 pregnant women participated in this case-control study, 40 with GDM as the study group and 40 with healthy pregnant women as the control group. The demographic and clinical characteristics of the study groups are shown in Table 1 . There were no statistically significant differences between the groups in maternal age, gravidity, and gestational age during the study (p:0.324; p:0.142; p:0.980; respectively). BMI and amniotic fluid volume were higher in the GDM group than in the control group (p:0.009; p:0.000). Increased one-hour glucose values on the 50 g oral glucose challenge test (OGCT) were found in the GDM group compared to the control group (p:0.000). The glucose values of the 100 g oral glucose tolerance test are shown in Table 1.
The values of epicardial fat thickness and umbilical artery Doppler parameters of the study groups are shown in Table 2. The fetal EFT value was statistically higher in the GDM group than in the control group (p:0.000). Statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of umbilical artery Doppler resistance index (RI), pulsatility index (PI), and systolic/diastolic ratio (S/D) were not found (p:0.337; p:0.503; p:0.155;).
The comparison of the two groups in terms of perinatal outcomes is shown in Table 3 . Higher birth weight, ICU admission, higher C/S rate, and nonreassuring fetal heart rate pattern were observed in the GDM group compared with the control group (p:0.049; p:0.000; p:0.038;p:0.011, respectively). Apgar scores at 1 minute and 5 minutes were statistically significantly lower in the GDM group than in the control group (p:0.000; p:0.001).
The relationship between the EFT scores and the study parameters is shown in Table 4. Spearman correlation tests showed statistically significant but weak positive correlations between fetal EFT value, 1-hour 100 gr OGTT, birth weight and BMI (r: 0.198, p:0.047; r:0.395, p:0.012; r:0.360, p:0.042, respectively). The optimal fetal EFT cut-off value for predicting GDM disease was found as 1.55 mm with a specificity of 74.4% and sensitivity of 75.0%.(Figure 2).