Association of socioeconomic deprivation on gestational diabetes incidence and perinatal outcomes

Abstract Hypothesis: Socioeconomic disparities have been shown to correlate with perinatal mortality and the incidence of type 2 diabetes. Few studies have explored the relationship between deprivation and the incidence of gestational diabetes (GDM). We aimed to identify the relationship between deprivation and incidence of GDM, after adjusting for age, BMI, and ethnicity. We also examined for relationships between deprivation and perinatal outcomes. Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis of 23490 pregnancies from a major hospital in Northwest London was conducted. The 2019 English Indices of Multiple Deprivation was used to identify the deprivation rank and decile for each postcode. Birthweight centile was calculated from absolute birthweight after adjusting for ethnicity, maternal height, maternal weight, parity, sex and outcome (live birth/stillbirth). Logistic regression and correlation analyses were used to identify relationships between variables. Results: After controlling for age, BMI & ethnicity, there was no correlation between a woman’s IMD postcode decile and their odds of developing GDM. Each increase in decile of deprivation was associated with an increase in birthweight centile by 0.471 (p<0.001). After adjusting for confounders, age was associated with increased odds of developing GDM by 7.6% (OR: 1.076, p<0.001); BMI increased odds by 5.9% (OR: 1.059, p<0.001). There was no significant correlation between IMD rank and perinatal outcomes. Conclusions: Genetic predispositions and poorer lifestyle choices are likely play a larger role in the development of GDM compared to socioeconomic deprivation alone. Socioeconomic deprivation is not associated with incidence of adverse perinatal outcomes.