Fasting serum triglycerides, free fatty acids, and malondialdehyde are increased in preeclampsia, are positively correlated, and decrease within 48 hours post partum☆,☆☆,★,★★
Section snippets
Subjects
Seventeen nulliparous subjects were recruited at the time of admittance to the labor and delivery ward at Magee-Womens Hospital as part of an investigation of preeclampsia. This study was approved by the hospital institutional review board. Demographic and clinical data were collected at routine obstetric visits. Eight subjects had preeclampsia, defined by the criteria of hypertension, proteinuria, hyperuricemia, and reversal of hypertension and proteinuria after delivery.2 Gestational
RESULTS
By definition, preeclamptic parturients had elevated blood pressures (p < 0.001) and serum uric acid levels (p < 0.01) relative to normal pregnancy (Table I). Gestational age at time of delivery and infant birth weights were less for preeclamptic than normal pregnancies (p < 0.001, Table I). None of the infant birth weights in the normal pregnant group were <10th percentile for gestational age (small for gestational age) and two were >10th percentile for gestational age (large for gestational
COMMENT
During the first half of normal pregnancy increased maternal fat accumulation (relative anabolic state) is presumed to be important for the subsequent hypertriglyceridemia normally occurring in late gestation (relative catabolic state).17 Circulating concentrations of very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and LDL normally increase with gestational age, as reflected by marked increases in serum triglycerides and cholesterol (250% and 25% by term, respectively).3, 18 The hypertriglyceridemia is due
Acknowledgements
We thank Jacqueline I. Ojimba, BS, for excellent technical assistance and Cindy Schatzman, RN, and the nursing staff of Magee-Womens Hospital for invaluable help in sample collection. We gratefully acknowledge Ariel Many, MD, for advice and suggestions concerning this study.
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Cited by (0)
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From the Magee-Womens Research Institute, and the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh.
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Supported in part by National Institutes of Health grant No. HD30367. C.A.H. was the recipient of Individual National Research Service Award No. HL 08786 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Irene McLenahan Young Investigator Research Fund Award, Magee-Womens Hospital.
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Reprint requests: Carl A. Hubel, PhD, Magee-Womens Research Institute, 204 Craft Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
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0002-9378/96 $5.00 + 0 6/1/68436