Research

Hormonal

Low serum creatinine levels in early pregnancy (10-14 weeks) are associated with a significantly higher incidence of postpartum abnormal glucose metabolism (AGM) in women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

If you have a history of gestational diabetes, your early pregnancy creatinine level may predict your risk of developing persistent blood sugar issues after birth. Since creatinine reflects muscle mass, and muscle is key for processing glucose, maintaining or building muscle mass through resistance training and adequate protein intake before and during pregnancy may help mitigate this risk. Discuss your creatinine levels with your endocrinologist or obstetrician as part of your GDM management plan.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Compared with the highest quartile of creatinine, lower quartiles were substantially linked to an increased incidence of postpartum AGM (adjusted odds ratios 3.37 [95% CI 1.77–6.42], 2.42 [95% CI 1.29–4.51] and 2.27 [95% CI 1.23–4.18], respectively).
Nan Chen et al. · Nutrients · 2023

Why this rating

Retrospective cohort study with large sample size (n=501) and robust adjustment for confounders, but lacks causal proof of mechanism.

Source

Low Serum Creatinine Levels in Early Pregnancy Are Associated with a Higher Incidence of Postpartum Abnormal Glucose Metabolism among Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Nan Chen et al. · Nutrients · 2023

DOI 10.3390/nu15092193

cohort · n=501Cited 4×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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