Expression and clinical significance of miR-204 in patients with hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy

OBJECTIVE: Hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP) is a unique and common obstetrical complication in pregnancy. The current study sought to investigate the diagnostic value of serum miR-204 in HDCP patients. METHODS: A total of 196 HDCP patients were enrolled, with 54 healthy pregnant women as controls. The expression levels of miR-204 and inflammatory factors in the serum were determined. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to assess the diagnostic value of miR-204 in HDCP patients. Person coefficient was introduced to analyze the correlation between miR-204 and inflammatory indexes. Kaplan–Meier method was employed to analyze the effect of miR-204 expression on the incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Logistic regression was adopted to assess the risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes. RESULTS: miR-204 expression was upregulated in the serum of HDCP patients. The serum miR-204 level > 1.432 could assist the diagnosis of HDCP. miR-204 level in the serum was positively correlated with TNF-α, IL-6, and hs-CRP concentrations in HDCP patients. The risk of adverse outcomes was higher in pregnant women with high miR-204 expression. High miR-204 expression was associated with an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes after adjusting the family history of HDCP, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, AST, ALT, LDH, 24-h urinary protein, TNF-α, IL-6, and hs-CRP. CONCLUSION: The high expression of miR-204 assists the diagnosis of HDCP and is an independent risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes in HDCP patients. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12884-022-04501-9.