Abnormal Lipid levels as a risk factor of eclampsia, study conducted in tertiary care Hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province - Pakistan

OBJECTIVE To evaluate abnormal lipid metabolism as a risk factor of eclampsia in pregnant women. METHODS This cross sectional study was conducted in three tertiary care hospitals of Peshawar. Serum total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), triglyceride (TG), apolipoprotein A1 (APO-A1), APO-B100, lipoprotein-a (Lpa) were measured in 110 women with eclampsia and compared with 90 healthy pregnant women. Mean lipid levels in cases and controls were compared using student's t test". RESULTS Mean systolic/diastolic blood pressure, TC, TG, VLDL-C and Lpa levels were significantly higher (p<0.001) in patients compared to control women. Similarly TC: HDL-C, LDL-C: HDL-C and TG: HDL-C ratio in the patients group were significantly higher (p<0.001) and HDL-C: VLDL-C ratio was significantly lower (p<0.001) in the patients as compared to control group. Undesirable cholesterol were noted in 35.8% patients, HDL-C in 50.5%, borderline high concentration of LDL-C in 23.6%, high triglycerides levels in 73.2%, undesirable cholesterol ratio in 52.3% and undesirable LDL-C ratio were noted in 82.1% patients of eclampsia. CONCLUSION Serum lipids were found significantly higher thus early assessment may be helpful in prevention of complications in the eclampsia patients.