Association of Serum Calcium and 24 Hours Urinary Excretion of Calcium in Patients of Preeclampsia

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Bangladesh J Med Biochem 2010; 3(2): 57-60 premature delivery. In the developing countries, preeclampsia affects 4.4 percent of all deliveries and may be as high as 18 percent in some settings in Africa4. Development of a simple and reliable biochemical test is, therefore, important to detect pregnant women in the early stage of preeclampsia. Several biochemical changes occur during the course of the disease. A large number of blood and urine parameters have been tested, among them serum total protein, serum albumin, serum globulin and A:G (albumin:globulin) ratio, serum calcium and urinary calcium excretion rate have drawn remarkable attention. Serum total calcium concentration decline characteristically throughout pregnancy reaching at the lowest Introduction Preeclampsia, the hypertensive disorder most unique to pregnancy, is characterized by hypertension (a rise in blood pressure of>15 mmHg diastolic or>30 mmHg systolic compared with measurements in early pregnancy), proteinuria or edema. The diagnosis becomes apparent in late pregnancy, usually after the twentieth gestational week1. Preeclampsia, first described more than 100 years ago, remains a leading cause of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality2. Preeclampsia complicates 3 5 percent of first pregnancy and 1 percent of subsequent pregnancies, 5-10 percent of which are severe3. It is one of the major indications for elective Preeclampsia is a leading cause of fetal growth retardation, infant morbidity, mortality and maternal death. Several biochemical changes occur during the course of the disease, among them serum total calcium and 24 hr urinary calcium excretion rate have drawn remarkable attention. A case control study was designed to see the association of serum calcium and 24 hours urinary excretion of calcium in patients of preeclampsia. The study was done from July 2008 to June 2009 in the Department of Biochemistry, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka. Total 60 subjects were selected as study population. Among them 30 were diagnosed case of preeclampsia and 30 were ageand sex-matched normal pregnant female healthy control. It was found that the mean measured serum calcium level in case group were 1.96 ±0.17 ( mean±SD ) mmol / l and that of control group were 2.34±0.12 (mean±SD) m mol/ l respectively. The mean 24 hr urinary calcium excretion level were 94.40 ±10.68mg/24 hr (mean±SD) in case group and that of control group were 154.35±66.68 (mean ±SD) mg / 24 hr respectively. The study suggests that low level of serum calcium and urinary excretion of calcium was associated with Pre-eclampsia.