Lead Levels in Non-Occupationally Exposed Women with Preeclampsia

Abstract

There are many controversies regarding the relationship between lead exposure andcomplications in pregnancy. Preeclampsia (PE) is a maternal hypertensive disorder which is one of the main causes of maternal and foetal mortality. The aim of our study was to assess blood lead level (BLL) in Polish women with PE (PE group, n = 66) compared with healthy, non-pregnant women (CNP group, n = 40) and healthy pregnant women (CP group, n = 40). BLL was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and BLL in the CP group were significantly lower than in the PE group (p < 0.001). Logistic regression analyses of BLL showed a significant positive relationship with the presence of PE. Furthermore, both the SBP and DBP values were positively associated with BLL. This study indicates that preeclamptic women tend to present with significantly higher BLL compared to healthy pregnant women. There were no differences in the BLL between the CP and CNP groups.

The Differences in Blood Lead Levels in Women with Gestational Hypertension or Pre-Eclampsia and Women with Normal Pregnancy (A Study in the North Coast of Java, Brebes District)

“…Several reviews have shown that pregnant women with GH/PE have low NO levels, increased ROS, and endothelial dysfunction (45)(46). The positive relationship between GH/PE and BLL, proven by pathogenic studies, suggests that exposure to leads contributes to the pregnancy complications (11,12).…”

“…Some of the risk factors for GH/ PE that have been widely discussed are primiparas, history of hypertension or impaired renal function before pregnancy, history of hypertension or GH/PE in previous pregnancies, diabetes, obesity, age over 40 years, multiple pregnancies, family history of PE, and so on (5)(6)(7)(8). Several recent studies have shown that environmental factors have the potential to trigger the incidence of GH/ PE, including exposure to toxic materials e.g., pesticides (9)(10) and heavy metals, such as lead or plumbum (Pb) (11)(12). An increase in Blood Lead Levels (BLL) is followed by the rise in blood pressure of pregnant women (13), through oxidative stress mechanisms.…”

Peptide Charge Derivatization as a Tool for Early Detection of Preeclampsia by Mass Spectrometry—A Comparison with the ELISA Test

“…The proposed method could identify the tryptic podocin peptide even during the early stages of pregnancy where proteinuria, commonly related to the podocyturia, was not identified by clinical diagnosis [ 37 , 38 ]. The specificity of proteinuria has been questioned in view of the poor relation between the 24 h excretion and spot check data [ 39 ].…”

A global perspective of correlation between maternal blood lead levels and risks of preeclampsia: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The other four articles failed to make it into the finalist as they studied the association between lead exposure and obstetric outcomes during pregnancy but did not involve preeclampsia (31)(32)(33)(34). Of the rest 25 articles, 21 were included in systematic review and meta-analysis, while four studies were only assessed in the qualitative synthesis (14-17, [20][21][22][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]. Details of the study selection process can be seen in Figure 1.…”

“…Many studies have reported an association between heavy metals and preeclampsia during pregnancy, but the results are inconsistent (16,(20)(21)(22). Several reasons, such as different ethnic backgrounds, geographical locations, and measurement methods, may explain the disparity.…”