Anion gap determination in preeclampsia.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if the calculated anion gap differs according to presence or absence of hypertension in pregnant women.


METHODS
Retrospective data were obtained for 1223 patients who delivered at a community hospital during a 6-month period. Fifty-six (4.6%) of these patients were considered to have proteinuric hypertension, 66 (5.4%) to have non-proteinuric hypertension, and 1101 (90%) to be normotensive. The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare these groups with respect to the anion gap and serum sodium, chloride, and bicarbonate.


RESULTS
Compared with the other two groups, proteinuric hypertensive patients tended to have lower values for serum sodium (P < .005) and the anion gap (P < .005). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups with respect to serum chloride or bicarbonate.


CONCLUSIONS
The anion gap appears to be smaller with proteinuric hypertension than it is without.
Matsumoto
L C
LC
Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Kirz
D S
DS
Shott
S
S
Leak
B
B
D000136:Acid-Base Equilibrium; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011507:Proteinuria / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications*; D012189:Retrospective Studies