Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha in third trimester eclamptic women attendee of selected hospitals in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

Eclampsia, a life-threatening occurrence of convulsion(s) in association with hypertension and significant proteinuria in pregnancy has remained an important public health problem, contributing to significant maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in Nigeria. The aim of this was to determine serum levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha in eclampsia, and to compare with those of healthy pregnant and non-pregnant controls. Enzyme-linked immunoassay was used to measure the levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha in the sera of eclamptic women (n=38), normal healthy pregnant women (n=25) and healthy non pregnant controls (n=25). Data was analyzed using SPSS ver. 21.0 (Chiga, USA) and p< 0.05 is considered to be significant. The overall result of the level of tumor necrosis factor alpha (232.10±135.87 pg/ml) in eclamptic women was significantly higher than the mean values (180.58±29.18 pg/ ml and 178.38±36.12 pg/ml) in pregnant and non-pregnant controls respectively. Furthermore, eclampsia had higher level of tumor necrosis factor alpha mean value compared with non-pregnant controls (P<0.05). Elevated tumor necrosis factor alpha in the maternal circulation might play a central role in the excessive systemic inflammatory response, as well as the generalized endothelial dysfunction characteristics of the maternal syndrome of eclampsia. Excessive production of tumor necrosis factor alpha may serve as immunoreactive agent responsible for clinical symptoms and fetal death recorded in women with eclampsia in this study. A further longitudinal study involving a larger population is strongly advocated to captures dangerous alterations in the levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha as they manifest in the course of pregnancy.