Study of serum calcium in maternal and cord blood of women with preeclampsia and normotensive pregnancies

The aim of this study was to assess Serum Calcium (SCa) levels in the women with preeclamptic and normotensive pregnancies and to estimate its levels in cord blood with a view to relate the levels in pregnant mothers with their new born babies. This observational study was carried out in the Department of Biochemistry in PGIMS, Rohtak from February 2015 to July 2015. Thirty apparently normal pregnant women and 30 preeclamptic pregnant mothers were enrolled in the study. Subjects were excluded if they had chronic medical disease or were taking medications known to interfere with Ca metabolism such as corticosteroids, thyroxine and heparin. Total SCa, Ionized calcium (Ca+2), corrected total Ca and serum albumin (Alb) were estimated in pregnant females. There was a highly significant reduction in total SCa and corrected total Ca in preeclamptic pregnancies when compared to normotensive pregnancies (P<0.001, P<0.001 respectively). Serum Ca+2 also showed significant difference in these two groups (P<0.02). The significant difference in serum Alb levels were noticed in normotensive and preeclamptic subjects. (P<0.001).Total Ca level in cord blood of normotensive was statistically highly significant when compared to cord blood total Ca levels inpreeclamptic pregnancies (P<0.001). In our study, there was a strong positive correlation in total SCa levels in cord blood of new-born and in serum of both healthy and preeclamptic mothers and was statistically highly significant (r=0.562, r=0.680 and p<0.001, p<0.001 respectively). We conclude from our study that reduction in maternal total SCa with consequent decrease inCaas a fraction of total calcium may have role in development of preeclampsia. Low SCa inpreeclamptic mothers and in cord blood of their babies could be a useful indicator of the maternal and fetal complications. This biochemical marker would allow early identification of patients at risk of preeclampsia and thus help in providing adequate prenatal care and reduce the maternal mortality.