Evaluation of serum leptin levels during normal pregnancy and in pre-eclampsia.

BACKGROUND The present study was designed to compare the serum leptin levels in normal pregnancies with those pregnancies which are complicated by pre-eclampsia and to investigate the possibility of leptin being a marker of severity of pre-eclampsia. METHODS This was a comparative cross-sectional study, conducted at the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetric, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi. For this purpose 45 primigravidas with normal pregnancy and 45 primigravidas with pre-eclamptic pregnancy were selected who were in their third trimester All the subjects were of the same maternal age, gestational age, height and weight. Serum leptin levels were determined by immunoenzymometric assay. RESULTS The study included 90 patients, divided into two groups. The serum leptin levels were found to be elevated in pre-eclamptic group as compared to normal pregnancy. When comparison was made on the basis of severity of pre-eclampsia, the serum leptin levels were found to be increased in severe group as compared to mild group. CONCLUSION From this study it was concluded that the levels of serum leptin were higher in pre-eclamptic group when compared to controls during the third trimester of pregnancy indicating the possible role of leptin in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. Also the elevated level of leptin may help in the prediction of the disease and may serve as a marker of severity of pre-eclampsia.