Serum lipid profile and uric acid levels in preeclampsia in University of Benin Teaching Hospital

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific disease associated with significant maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. Lipid abnormality and elevated serum uric acid have been reported as early features of the disease. We aimed to detect the level of serum lipid profile and uric acid abnormalities in severe preeclamptics in Benin City and to measure their clinical significance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective case-control study was conducted with subjects presenting with severe preeclampsia to the Obstetric Unit of the UBTH, Benin City. Fasting serum lipid profile and uric acid levels of 40 severe preeclamptic subjects and 80 gestation-matched normotensive controls were done at recruitment. The preeclamptic subjects were managed according to our departmental protocol which included stabilisation and delivery. Their sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were used to generate a database for analysis. RESULTS: The mean serum uric acid level was 28% higher in severe preeclamptics than normotensive women (5.96 ± 2.54 mg/dl versus 4.30 ± 0.85; P = 0.005). There were statistically significant differences in levels of triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) between the preeclamptics and their normotensive controls (P = 0.006, P = 0.000, P = 0.000, respectively). Abnormal serum uric acid was associated with advanced maternal age (P = 0.000), early-onset preeclampsia (P = 0.000) and abnormal body mass index (BMI; P = 0.000). Low birth weight was more likely in preeclamptics with elevated serum uric acid levels (P = 0.041). CONCLUSION: Abnormality of serum uric acid in preeclampsia was significantly associated with increased frequency of complications but lipid profile abnormalities were not shown in the subjects studied. We recommend a larger scale study to determine lipid profile in normal and complicated pregnancies in our environment.