Association of Lipid Profile and Uric Acid with Pre-eclampsia of Third Trimester in Nullipara Women

Abstract

Background: Pre-eclampsia (PE) affects approximately 3% of all pregnancies worldwide, with onset of symptoms in the late second or third trimester, commonly after 32(nd) week. It is common in nulliparous women. To avoid complications it is necessary to diagnose it in advance, but the available tools are unable to clinch the diagnosis of preeclampsia effectively in majority.

Aim: To find out an association of lipid profile and uric acid with PE in nullipara pregnant women in third trimester.

Materials and methods: One hundred nulliparous pregnant women in their third trimester of 18-35 years were divided into; 50 pre-eclamptics of study group and 50 non pre-eclamptic in control group; further subdivided according to age, 18-26 and 27-35 yrs. Diagnosis was confirmed as per the standard criteria. Lipid profile and uric acid levels were estimated by Vitros 250 dry chemistry analyser. Data was analysed statistically by student t-test at p<0.01 level of significance.

Results: TC, LDL-c and VLDL-c levels in the study group as a whole and in the patients between 18-26 years were significant; HDL-c levels in the patients between 27-35 years were significant while TG and uric acid levels in all the three study groups were significant.

Conclusion: Total cholesterol, LDL-c, VLDL-c, triglycerides (TGs) and uric acid levels were raised in preeclampsia and statistically significant; while HDL-c levels were raised in these patients but statistically non-significant, it can be concluded that there exists an association in lipid profile and uric acid with PE therefore dyslipidemia and raised uric acid levels are the features of PE in nullipara pregnant women in their third trimester.

Keywords: Lipid profile; Preeclampsia; Uric acid.