Study population
This study was part of an ongoing cohort study in which Chinese pregnant women, delivered from January 2015 to December 2016 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, were recruited at the time of antepartum screening for GDM. Inclusion criteria were: 1) singleton pregnancy without known chronic non-communicable diseases (except obesity); 2) attending regular prenatal care in our hospital; and 3) had integrated medical records. Women were excluded if they had any of the following conditions: multiple pregnancy, preexisting hypertension, preexisting diabetes, diseases of immune system or other diseases that may influence the lipid profile, taking drugs which affected lipid levels, i.e. glucocorticoids, before or during pregnancy and missing data on crucial items like height, pre-pregnant and pre-partum weight, lipids profile in second trimester, 75g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) results and pregnancy outcomes. Overall, a total of 6, 233women met the criteria and were included in the final study.