title: Relationship between preeclampsia and vitamin D deficiency: a case control study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is paucity of literature pertaining to association between vitamin D deficiency and preeclampsia from sunshine-rich countries like India. Further none of the studies have reported on relation with severity of preeclampsia. This study was carried out with a purpose of studying relation between vitamin D deficiency and preeclampsia and its complications.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-four nulliparous preeclamptic women with singleton pregnancy and without any known medical disorder and 100 healthy nulliparous controls of same age were enrolled. Serum vitamin D concentration of the two groups was compared. We also compared the vitamin D level of women with mild and severe preeclampsia and with or without various complications of preeclampsia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-four percent of women were vitamin D deficient. Mean serum vitamin D was significantly lower among cases (9.7 ± 4.95 ng/ml) as compared to controls (14.8 ± 6.68 ng/ml); p = 0.0001. Women with mild preeclampsia (9.44 ± 5.63 ng/ml) had similar vitamin D level as those with severe disease (9.8 ± 4.79 ng/ml) (p = 0.811). There was no difference in vitamin D level of women with eclampsia (p = 0.956) or imminent eclampsia (p = 0.310) and those without these complications.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among pregnant women in India. Women with preeclampsia had significantly lower vitamin D level as compared to normal women. Severity of the disease was not related to vitamin D level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Rimpi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Singla
authors.forename: Padma
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gurung
authors.forename: Neelam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.forename: Usha
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.forename: Rakesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kochhar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004461:Eclampsia / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000097:blood*; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D