In the GDM group, of the clinical measurements, only HbA1C correlated significantly and positively with HIF1A (R = 0.33; p = 0.001), HK2 (R = 0.35; p = 0.004), PFK (R = 0.31; p = 0.002), and SLC2A1 (R = 0.34; p = 0.001) transcripts and negatively with LDHA transcript (R =  − 0.27; p = 0.010) (Fig. 6). Here, HK2 is linked to gestational diabetes.