Copyright
©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Jan 15, 2026; 17(1): 112882
Published online Jan 15, 2026. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v17.i1.112882
Published online Jan 15, 2026. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v17.i1.112882
Role of fasting glucose and glycated hemoglobin for gestational diabetes mellitus diagnosis: A prospective study
María Molina-Vega, Maria J Estébanez-Prieto, Andrea Fernández-Valero, Sonsoles Morcillo, María J Picón-César, Unidad de Gestión Clínica Endocrinología y Nutrición, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Málaga 29010, Spain
María Molina-Vega, Fuensanta Lima-Rubio, Teresa M Linares-Pineda, Sonsoles Morcillo, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga y Plataforma en Nanomedicina-IBIMA Plataforma BIONAND, Málaga 29590, Spain
María Molina-Vega, Sonsoles Morcillo, María J Picón-César, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de la Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y la Nutrición (CIBERObn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid 28029, Spain
Ana M Fernández-Ramos, Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Laboratorio, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Málaga 29010, Spain
Co-corresponding authors: María Molina-Vega and Sonsoles Morcillo.
Author contributions: Molina-Vega M and Morcillo S contribute equally to this study as co-corresponding authors; Molina-Vega M and Picón-César MJ conceptualized and designed the research study; Estébanez-Prieto MJ and Lima-Rubio F collected the blood samples; Fernández-Valero A and Estébanez-Prieto MJ compiled the clinical and analytical data; Fernández-Ramos AM analyzed the blood samples; Linares-Pineda TM performed the data curation; Molina-Vega M and Morcillo S performed the statistical analysis of the data; Molina-Vega M, Picón-César MJ, and Morcillo S acquired the funding for the study; Molina-Vega M wrote the original draft; Morcillo S and Picón-César MJ reviewed and edited the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript; the requirements for authorship have been met, and each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work.
Supported by the Fundación Sociedad Española de Diabetes; the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and co-funded by the European Union, No. PI18/01175 and No. PI21/01864; the Juan Rodés Program from Instituto de Salud Carlos III, No. JR20-00040; and the Nicolas Monardes Program from “Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Junta de Andalucía”, No. RC-0008-2021.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of Málaga, Spain (No. 2644-N-21).
Informed consent statement: Participants were volunteers and signed consent forms after being fully informed of the study’s objectives and characteristics.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author (molinavegamaria@gmail.com). The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: María Molina-Vega, PhD, Unidad de Gestión Clínica Endocrinología y Nutrición, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Campus de Teatinos S/N, Málaga 29010, Spain. molinavegamaria@gmail.com
Received: August 8, 2025
Revised: September 4, 2025
Accepted: November 21, 2025
Published online: January 15, 2026
Processing time: 159 Days and 17 Hours
Revised: September 4, 2025
Accepted: November 21, 2025
Published online: January 15, 2026
Processing time: 159 Days and 17 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Gestational diabetes is diagnosed by a two-step strategy: A screening test (O’Sullivan test) and a diagnostic test [100-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)]. The alternative criteria are based on glycated hemoglobin and fasting glucose, avoiding OGTT. Alternative criteria have sensitivity of 25.0% and specificity of 91.2%. Females with negative usual criteria (OGTT-) but who are alternative criteria positive have a high rate of obesity and large for gestational age babies. Although not valid enough to replace OGTT, alternative criteria should have a future role in the identification of this non-diagnosed high-risk group that could benefit from health interventions.