Comparison of maternal serum lipoproteins in normal pregnancy and primiparous patients with eclampsia

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate changes in serum lipoproteins in primiparous women with eclampsia and compare it with pregnant women having normal blood pressure. METHODS: This cross sectional study was conducted on 65 primiparous eclamptic patients and 21 normotensive pregnant women in the tertiary care hospitals of Peshawar. History of each woman was recorded on a questionnaire. Blood pressure was measured using standard methods. About 5 ml of venous blood was drawn for the analysis of lipoproteins. The data was analyzed using computer software package SPSS version 10. The P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Mean age of hypertensive cases was 23.2 ± 0.52 years while that for controls was 23.9 ± 1.16 years. Significant differences were found in serum lipoproteins. Women having eclampsia had 28.8%, 29.5%, 31.1%, 32.9% and 65.3% higher, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDLC), triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC):high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDLC) ratio, LDLC: HDLC ratio and TG: HDLC ratio respectively as compared to the control group. The HDLC concentrations, HDLC: VLDLC ratio and apolipoprotein-A1 level were 26.9%, 56.6% and 27.9% respectively, lower in the patient group as compared to the controls. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that evaluation of lipoprotein concentrations during antenatal period can be helpful in the early detection and prevention of developing eclampsia.