title: Maternal cardiac risks in pre-eclamptic patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between pre-eclampsia (PE) and maternal cardiac risk factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 41 pregnant women were included in this study. Patient groups consisted of 25 PE patients and 16 normal pregnant women as a control group. We measured the serum total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglyceride (TG), homocystein, apoprotein A1, apoprotein B100, lipoprotein (a), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), cystatin C levels as cardiac risk factors. Serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol levels were calculated using Friedwald equation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The levels of TG, LDL-C, homocysteine, apoprotein B100 and cystatine C were higher in the PE patients than those in the control group (p < 0.05). HDL-C and apolipoprotein's AI levels were lower than those of normotensive pregnants (p < 0.05). HsCRP levels were also higher in the patient group but the difference was not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PE is an important and as yet, incompletely understood disorder of pregnancy. Our study showed that the blood levels for some cardiac risk factors were increased in women with PE, which may contribute to its multisystem pathology. Consideration should be given to monitoring women with PE for these cardiac risk factors in pre-eclamptic women both during pregnancy, as well as later in life.
authors.affiliation: Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ankara, Turkey. nbukan@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Neslihan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bukan
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kandemir
authors.forename: Tuncay
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nas
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gulbahar
authors.forename: Adem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Unal
authors.forename: Banu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cayci
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology