Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Aug;33(16):2812-2817.
doi: 10.1080/14767058.2018.1562542. Epub 2019 Jan 9.

Adipokine profiles in preeclampsia

Suchitra Chandrasekaran  1 , Hayley Hunt  1 , Susan Melhorn  2 , Hilary S Gammill  1   3 , Ellen A Schur  2
Affiliations

Adipokine profiles in preeclampsia

Suchitra Chandrasekaran et al. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

Objectives: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), including preeclampsia (PE), are associated with short- and long-term maternal health complications, and obesity is a leading attributable risk factor for HDP. Yet, most women identified as obese [by body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2] do not develop HDP, indicating limited predictability of BMI alone. In nonpregnant populations, increased visceral fat mass (VFM) is an obesity-associated phenotype increasing the risk of developing hypertension. We sought to assess whether, in pregnancy, obese women with PE would have higher circulating levels of adipokines preferential to VFM compared to obese women without PE.Study Design: We performed a case-control study of women with and without PE, including obese (n = 65; BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and normal weight (n = 52; BMI 18.4-24.9 kg/m2) women. Plasma concentrations of adipokines preferential to VFM (visfatin, resistin), adipokines reflecting overall adiposity (leptin, adiponectin), and inflammatory cytokines were compared.Results: We found that among obese women, cases had significantly higher levels of VFM-associated adipokines and cytokines compared to controls [visfatin (p < .01, t = -3.8), resistin (p = .002, t = 1.12), IFN gamma (p = .04, t = -2.0), IL-6 (p < .01, t = -2.65), IL1-beta (p < .01, t = -4.1), IL-2 (p < .01, t = -3.9)]. Interestingly, however, obese and normal weight cases had similar VFM-adipokine and cytokine levels [visfatin (p = .34, t = -0.35), resistin (p = .55, t = -0.25)], and inflammatory marker concentrations [IFN gamma (p = .86, t = -0.76), IL-6 (p = .91, t = -0.53), IL-1beta (p = .67, t = 1.18), and IL-2 (p = .45, t = -1.16)]. These data possibly suggest an association between VFM and PE that is present independent of BMI.Conclusion: In summary, we demonstrated that, in normal-weight and obese women, PE was associated with higher concentrations of VFM-preferential adipokines compared to normal-weight and obese controls without PE.

Keywords: Obesity; preeclampsia; visceral fat.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

References

    1. ACOG. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 125: chronic hypertension in pregnancy. Obstet Gynecol. 2012; 119(2 Pt 1):396–407. - PubMed
    1. ACOG. Task Force on Hypertension in Pregnancy. Report of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Task Force on Hypertension in Pregnancy. Obstet Gynecol. 2013;122(5):1122–1131. - PubMed
    1. D’Alton ME, Main EK, Menard MK, et al. The national partnership for maternal safety. Obstet Gynecol. 2014; 123(5):973–977. - PubMed
    1. Fingar KR, Mabry-Hernandez I, Ngo-Metzger Q, et al. Delivery hospitalizations involving preeclampsia and eclampsia; 2005–2014: Statistical Brief # 222. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) statistical briefs. Rockville (MD); 2006. - PubMed
    1. Dietz WH. The response of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the obesity epidemic. Annu Rev Public Health. 2015;36(1):575–596. - PubMed