ADIPS Poster Presentation Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society and Society of Obstetric Medicine Australia and New Zealand Joint Scientific Meeting 2025

Exploring the role of metabolites as predictors of preeclampsia in women with Type 1 Diabetes   (#119)

Iris S K Joo 1 , Matilda Longfield 2 3 , Natassia A Rodrigo 2 3 4 , Elif Ekinci 5 6 , Jas-mine Seah 5 6 , Suzanne B Golub 7 , Sarah J Glastras 1 2 3
  1. Northern Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. The Kolling Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  3. Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  4. Department of Endocrinology, Nepean Hospital, Kingswood, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  5. Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  6. Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  7. Department of Paediatrics, Royal Children’s Hospital, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Background: Women with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have high risk of developing preeclampsia, an important pregnancy-related complication that persists despite glycemic control.1 Disruptions in amino acid (AA) and lipid metabolism have been linked to inflammatory stress and preeclampsia development.2 Therefore, AA and/or lipid metabolite maternal blood levels in early pregnancy may facilitate risk stratification of women with T1D.

Aim: To identify serum metabolites associated with preeclampsia in women with T1D.

Methods: 37 pregnant women with T1D were recruited from Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, and Austin Health, Melbourne, 2019–2024. Blood samples were collected at 12–18 weeks gestation, biomarkers assessed with NMR analysis (Nightingale, Finland). Preeclampsia outcome was identified via hospital-level birth records; statistical analysis conducted in RStudio.

Results: Women with T1D who developed preeclampsia were younger and had higher BMI than those without preeclampsia (age 31.3 ± 2.4 vs 34.6 ± 3.4 years, p=0.002; BMI 28.3 ± 5.1 vs 23.4 [21.3–26.0], p=0.03). Alanine and apolipoprotein B were higher in women with preeclampsia (0.291 vs 0.228mmol/L and 1.15 vs 0.86g/L, p=0.006 and p=0.016). LDL size was greater (24.0 ± 0.036 vs 23.9 ± 0.06nm, p=0.009). Scaled alanine and LDL size unadjusted ORs were 2.59 (95% CI: 1.15–7.60, p=0.021) and 3.29 (95% CI: 1.18–14.46, p=0.019). Adjusting for age and BMI, ORs were 5.1 (95% CI: 1.60–31.9, p=0.04) and 4.8 (95% CI: 1.42–47.0, p=0.008) respectively.

Conclusion: AA and lipid biomarkers show early-gestational predictive value for preeclampsia. Further studies should expand sample size and confirm the role of metabolomics in early risk stratification.  

 

 

 
  1. Weissgerber, T. L., & Mudd, L. M. (2015). Preeclampsia and diabetes. Current diabetes reports, 15(3), 9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-015-0579-4
  2. Youssef, L., Crovetto, F., Simoes, R. V., Miranda, J., Paules, C., Blasco, M., Palomo, M., García-Calderó, H., Tura-Ceide, O., Dantas, A. P., Hernandez-Gea, V., Herrero, P., Canela, N., Campistol, J. M., Garcia-Pagan, J. C., Diaz-Ricart, M., Gratacos, E., & Crispi, F. (2022). The Interplay between Pathophysiological Pathways in Early-Onset Severe Preeclampsia Unveiled by Metabolomics. Life, 12(1), 86. https://doi.org/10.3390/life12010086