Correlation between serum trace elements and risk of preeclampsia: A case controlled study in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Preeclampsia is a serious medical complication during pregnancy. In response to an increasing number of preeclamptic cases and scarcity of data concerning the interrelation between trace element levels and preeclampsia, we carried out a hospital based case-control study in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to study the correlation between levels of serum trace elements and risk of preeclampsia. One hundred and twenty pregnant women were enrolled in this study and divided into three groups of 40 each-Control group, HR group (women at high risk of preeclampsia) and PET group (Preeclampsia group). Serum trace element levels were estimated by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrophotometer. The analysis found that mean values of Ca, Mg and Zn were 90.08 ± 6.38, 19.33 ± 3.32 and 1.30 ± 0.83 mg/L respectively in normotensive control and 77.85 ± 4.47, 15.44 ± 1.43 and 0.98 ± 0.63 mg/L respectively in the HR group. The mean values of Ca, Mg and Zn in the preeclamptic group were 70.37 ± 4.66, 13.58 ± 1.98 and 0.67 ± 0.59 mg/L, respectively. Interelement analysis reflected a negative correlation between Ca and Mg and between Mg and Zn whereas positive correlation between Ca and Zn in preeclamptic women. However the correlation was not statistically significant. In conclusion, our study suggests that decreased levels of these trace elements in serum may act as predisposing factors in pathogenesis of Preeclampsia.

Serum trace metals in Pre-Eclamptic Nigerians

“…32 However this present study show lower serum Zn level in pregnant women than controls, and also lower Zn level in pre-eclamptic women than normal pregnant women (table 1 & 2 respectively), thus buttresses that Zn deficiency may be a major factor in the development of pre-eclampsia in this environment. This corroborates previous report from Saudi Arabia that Cu and Zn are decreased in Pre-eclampsia, 33,34 but is conflicting with a report from Iran that serum Zn in pre-eclamptics had no significant difference with normotensive subjects. 35 The present study reveals that decreases in some serum trace metals levels may in part contribute to development of pre-eclampsia in this environment.…”

Evaluation Serum Copper Levels in Preeclampsia and Healthy Pregnant Women

“…They found significant difference in serum copper level in preeclamptic patient when compare with healthy pregnant . 1,2,4,5,12 But few study show conflicting result with this study. They observed that serum copper level is higher in preeclampsia patient than normal pregnancy group.…”

“…Previous study showed incidence of preeclampsia in primigravida is about 10% and in multigravidae about 5%. 4 In this study, serum copper level is lower in preeclamptic patient than normal pregnant woman. This difference is highly significant (p<0.001).…”

“…In pregnancy, the processes of implantation, proliferation, differentiation and trophoblast invasion produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), while in preeclampsia, lipid peroxidation also yielding ROS is uncontrolled. It is thought that preeclampsia is associated with an imbalance of increased lipid peroxides and decreased antioxidants 4 .…”

Magnesium in pregnancy

“…Multiple studies of women of diverse ethnicities have detected significantly lower serum magnesium levels in women with preeclampsia than in women without preeclampsia. [57][58][59][60][61][62][63] Unfortunately, as with other conditions examined in this review, the analysis of serum is a major limitation of these studies, and only a few studies using analysis of red cell magnesium were found. In a small cohort (n ¼ 20 cases, n ¼ 20 controls), a significant decrease in red cell magnesium was observed in women with preeclampsia compared with controls (0.98 6 0.15 mmol/L vs 1.35 6 0.30 mmol/L, P < 0.001), which was notably not evident in the analysis of serum in the same group.…”