Variation in Circulating Betatrophin/ANGPTL8 Levels in Normal and Overweight/Obese Pregnant Women

Introduction: Betatrophin as hepatokine and adipokine influences glucose homeostasis and implicates in the pathophysiological process of obesity and pregnancy. Various studies suggest that metabolic changes in normal weight/lean Pregnant women (PL) are significantly different from overweight/obese pregnant women (PO). However, the exact mechanism of how pre-gravid Body mass index (preBMI) affects betatrophin levels during normal pregnancy and the relationship of betatrophin to other clinical variables in PL and in PO have not been elucidated. Aim: To elucidate the effect of preBMI on betatrophin level in the initial three trimesters of pregnancy, and to determine the possible correlation between betatrophin and lipid profile parameters/ thyroid profile. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study was carried out from December 2016 to May 2017 at Maternity Hospital, Zakho City, Kurdistan Region (Iraq). Betatrophin levels were estimated in 59 pregnant women in initial three trimester of pregnancy. Among 32 PL (pre BMI≤24.9 kg/m2 ) and 27 PO (pre BMI>25 kg/m2 ), 10 and 8 were in First trimester (FT), 10 and 10 were in Second trimester (ST), 12 and 9 were in Third trimester (TT) respectively. Ten Non-pregnant normal weight/lean (NPL) (BMI≤24.9 kg/m2 ) and 12 Non-pregnant overweight/obese (NPO) (BMI>25 kg/m2 ) healthy married women of reproductive age were selected as controls. Serum total betatrophin, total triiodothyronine (T3), total-thyroxin (T4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), and estradiol (E2) were estimated by Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Triglyceride (TG) was estimated by the glycerophosphate oxidase colorimetric method. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Welch test, Kruskal Wallis test, Games-Howell test, Independent t-test, Mann-Whitney test, and Pearson/Spearman correlation analysis were performed to assess the parameters. The p-value