Evaluation of vitamin D status, parathyroid hormone, and calcium among Iranian pregnant women with preeclampsia: A case-control study

Abstract

Background: Preeclampsia is considered as a serious life-threatening condition that could affect both maternal and fetal outcome. Many studies have examined the association of nutritional factors with the incidence of preeclampsia. However, little is known about the possible role of vitamin D in the development of preeclampsia among the Iranian population.
 Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between vitamin D status and preeclampsia.
 Materials and Methods: A total of 120 pregnant women who were referred to Kamali and Alborz General Hospital located in the Karaj City were enrolled in this study and categorized into preeclamptic and control groups (n = 60/each). The clinical details of patients such as demographic characteristics and laboratory findings were obtained from the patients. The serum levels of vitamin D, calcium, phosphorus, and parathormone were also measured. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess for independent predictors of preeclampsia.
 Results: The mean age among pregnant women with preeclampsia and control group were 31.48 ± 5.25 and 29.01 ± 5.28, respectively. The mean body mass index among the preeclamptic group was 27.92 ± 4.98, which was significantly higher compared to the control group (p < 0.001). The serum vitamin D levels were significantly lower in women with preeclampsia compared to the control subjects (p = 0.007). Moreover, no correlation between vitamin D deficiency and predisposing factors of preeclampsia was observed after adjusting for confounding factors.
 Conclusion: Our study revealed that serum vitamin D level is significantly lower in among the pregnant women diagnosed with preeclampsia compared to the healthy subjects. However, no correlation was observed between the vitamin D status and the risk of preeclampsia development.
 Key words: Preeclampsia, Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxyvitamin D, Pregnancy.

Vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency and some of its related factors in a sample of Iraqi pregnant women and their neonates at Al-Elwiya Maternity Teaching Hospital during 2019

“…In addition, the study showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the mean of Vitamin D level of mothers with full term pregnancy and preterm pregnancy. These results about the associations between neonatal and maternal Vitamin D, and neonatal weights and neonatal Vitamin D indicate the role of maternal Vitamin D in the growth of fetus and is consistent with results of many studies (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)31). Vitamin D levels in umbilical cord blood were nearly always higher compared to the levels in maternal blood; this is consistent with results of a study about factors associated with the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in pregnant women and their neonates, and the high Vitamin D levels found in umbilical cord blood could be due to a positive maternal-foetal gradient or to placental synthesis of vitamin D. This protective mechanism would guarantee adequate vitamin D levels in the fetus and neonate during a period of rapid growth.…”

“…Vitamin D deficiency/ insufficiency is associated with a number of adverse health outcomes that affect all age groups in both sexes (8,9) especially pregnant women and their neonates where several studies have highlighted that women are at high risk for vitamin D deficiency, and this is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and preterm delivery (10)(11)(12)(13)(14). A study in China showed that 34.8% of pregnant women were vitamin D deficient and 43.0% were vitamin D insufficient (15).…”

Comparison of vitamin D, calcium and phosphorus values of essential hypertensive, preeclamptic and normotensive pregnant women

“…In the study conducted by Hamedanyan et al In 2019, 60 pregnant women with preeclampsia and 60 normal pregnant women were compared in terms of vitamin d, calcium, parathyroid hormone and phosphorus. Only vitamin d level was found to be significantly lower in the pregnant group with preeclampsia, but no relationship was observed between vitamin d status and the risk of developing preeclampsia [20] In our study, no significant relationship was found between normotensive pregnant women and 25hydroxyvitamin D levels and the development of preeclampsia.…”

Serum Calcium Levels in Preeclampsia

“…It was observed that hypocalcaemia may enhance the risk of preeclampsia more than 8-fold [14]. In contrast to the positive association, certain other studies did not report an association between calcium levels and preeclampsia [15][16][17][18], that may be due to differences in the study design, analytical techniques and different population and socio-economic conditions.…”