Effect of Vaginal Progesterone Treatment on Incidence of Glucose Intol-erance and Birth Weight in Pregnant Females with Threatened Abortion

Download PDF

Background: Preterm birth is an important health problem for neonates, families and societies. High risk patients for spontaneous preterm birth due to short cervix benefit from prophylactic use of progesterone. Progesterone has diabetogenic properties by affecting on insulin release and pancreatic function, and may cause gestational diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the usage of vaginal progesterone would increase the incidence of glucose intolerance, and affect the birth weight in pregnancy or not. Material and methods: 49 women treated with vaginal progesterone and 49 healthy not treated pregnant women participated in this prospective cohort study. Fasting blood sugar (FBS), glucose challenge test (GCT), and serum progesterone level in all women were checked at 28^th week of gestation. An abnormal GCT was followed by the subsequent glucose tolerance test (GTT). Results: Progesterone levels showed statistically significant higher levels in the cyclogest exposed group compared to the control group (P<0.001). Furthermore, the Mean GCTs levels were higher in the cyclogest exposed group in comparison to the control group (P=0.007). Nevertheless, Mean FBS levels and Mean GCTs were higher in the cyclogest group, but the FBS differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05). The frequency of women with abnormal FBS, GCT and GTT did not show statistically significant differences between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion: The daily use of vaginal progesterone caused higher incidence of glucose intolerance but it was not statistically significant; therefore, unnecessary use of cyclogest during pregnancy should be avoided.