Comparative study of serum lipid levels in normotensive and pre-eclamptic Nigerian women

Abstract

Background: Pre-eclampsia is a common syndrome that occurs in the second half of pregnancy and often manifest with hypertension and significant proteinuria. It occurs in up to 10% of pregnancies and is the second cause of maternal mortality worldwide accounting for 17% of maternal deaths in Nigeria. Aim : This study was performed to compare the serum lipid levels of pregnant normotensive and pre-eclamptic women. Methods: It was a case control study involving 50 normotensive and 50 preeclamptic women at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, making a total of 100 participants. Their venous blood (5mls) was collected after an overnight fast of 8-12 hours and this was analysed for cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), very low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (VLDL-C) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) using standard enzymatic methods. Results: The study showed that there was a significantly higher levels of triglyceride, VLDL-C and HDLC in the pre-eclamptic compared to the normotensive group (P<0.05). Also on Spearman´s Correlation, there was a significant positive correlation between these lipids and pre-eclampsia. Conclusion: Lipids therefore have an important role in the aetiopathogenesis of pre-eclampsia and could be estimated during the conservative management of patients with preeclampsia.
Key Words : Serum lipids; hypertension; pre-eclampsia; normotensive women; Nigerian women