Preconception Stress and Pregnancy Serum Glucose Levels Among Women Attending a Fertility Center.

Context: The association between women's stress and pregnancy glucose levels remain unclear, specifically when considering the preconception period as a sensitive window of exposure.

Objective: We investigated whether preconception perceived stress was associated with glucose levels during pregnancy among women attending a fertility center (2004-2019).

Methods: Before conception, women completed a psychological stress survey using the short version of the validated Perceived Stress Scale 4 (PSS-4), and blood glucose was measured using a 50-gram glucose load test during late pregnancy as a part of screening for gestational diabetes. Linear and log-binomial regression models were used to assess associations of total PSS-4 scores with mean glucose levels and abnormal glucose levels ( ≥ 140 mg/dL), adjusting for age, body mass index, race, smoking, education, physical activity, primary infertility diagnosis, number of babies, and mode of conception.

Results: Psychological stress was positively associated with mean abnormal glucose levels. The adjusted marginal means (95% CI) of mean glucose levels for women in the first, second, and third tertiles of psychological stress were 115 (110, 119), 119 (115, 123), and 124 (119, 128), and mg/dL, respectively ( for trend = .007). Also, women in the second and third tertiles of psychological stress had 4% and 13% higher probabilities of having abnormal glucose compared with women in the first tertile of psychological stress ( trend = .01).

Conclusion: These results highlight the importance of considering preconception when evaluating the relationship between women's stress and pregnancy glucose levels.