Objective　To investigate the serum levels of soluble leptin receptor (sLR) in normal pregnant women and women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in gestational period, and the correlation between sLR and GDM. Methods　Three hundred normal pregnant women (group A), 60 pregnant women with GDM (group B), and 20 healthy non-pregnant women (group C) were randomly selected from Jun. 2012 to Feb. 2013 in Xinqiao Hospital of Third Military Medical University. Group A and group B were respectively divided into 3 subgroups according to gestational ages: 14-19 weeks (A1, n=100; B1, n=20), 30-34 weeks (A2, n=100; B2, n=20), full-term before delivery (≥37weeks) (A3, n=100; B3, n=20). Serum sLR levels of all groups were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), features of changes in sLR levels within and between groups were analyzed, and the correlation between serum sLR and GDM was analyzed. Results　The serum sLR concentrations of normal pregnant women at three different gestational periods were 7.091±4.039, 8.543±5.460 and 10.130±7.069ng/ml, respectively, and they were much higher than that of non-pregnant women (4.095±0.996ng/ml, P<0.05), and the differences among different gestational periods showed statistical significance (P<0.05). With the progression of the pregnant duration, the serum sLR levels of normal pregnant women increased dramatically. The serum sLR levels in women with GDM at three different gestational periods were 4.582±1.333, 5.863±2.682 and 5.584±3.914ng/ml, respectively, and they were much lower than those of normal pregnant women. However, no significant difference was found among the subgroups of group B (P>0.05). At four levels of sLR <4.0ng/ml, 4.0–7.9ng/ml, 8.0–11.9ng/ml and ≥12.0ng/ml, the cases and proportion of GDM were 29(30.53%), 20(15.63%), 9(13.64%) and 2(2.82%), significant differences were found between different sLR concentrations for proportion of GDM (P<0.05) except between 4.0–7.9ng/ml and 8.0–11.9ng/ml (P>0.05). Conclusion　Serum sLR level is negatively correlated with GDM, the lower the concentration of sLR, the higher the incidence of GDM. DOI: 10.11855/j.issn.0577-7402.2014.02.09