Introduction: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is carbohydrate intolerance of varied severity with onset or first recognition during pregnancy.GDM is detrimental to maternal and foetal health. Both mother and child are at higher risk to develop type 2 diabetes in later life. Many studies have shown a relation between elevated serum ferritin; the major iron storage protein and risk of GDM. This becomes more significant in the light of universal iron supplementation in pregnancy.

Materials and Methods: A case control study was conducted with 85 pregnant ladies with GDM as cases & 85 pregnant ladies without GDM as controls. The study population was in 24 to 28 weeks of gestation. Venous blood samples were collected for estimation of serum ferritin.

Results: Mean serum ferritin is higher in cases (55.06 ng/ml) than in controls (31.26 ng/ml). This difference in serum ferritin in cases and controls was found to be statistically significant. (p value <0.001) by Chi-Square analysis.

Conclusion: The present study found a statistically significant correlation between serum ferritin level in pregnancy and risk of GDM. Iron being a pro oxidant, universal iron supplementation irrespective of iron status becomes controversial. Hence the need for extensive studies to rationalize the estimation of serum Ferritin in pregnant mothers to diagnose iron deficiency anemia prior to starting iron therapy.

Keywords: ferritin, GDM.

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Dr Sreekala K N

Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, SUT AMS, TVM