title: Hematocrit and plasma albumin levels difference may be a potential biomarker to discriminate preeclampsia and eclampsia in patients with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We evaluated whether alterations of hemoglobin (HB), hematocrit (HCT), serum albumin level (ALB), and the difference of HCT and ALB can be used in the diagnosis of preeclampsia and eclampsia in patients with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 509 individuals were recruited and divided into 4 groups: Group 1, 170 healthy non-pregnant women; Group 2, 125 normal pregnant women; Group 3, 105 pregnant women diagnosed with gestational and chronic hypertension; Group 4, 109 pregnant women diagnosed as having preeclampsia and eclampsia. Data of HB, HCT, ALB, globulin (GLB) were collected at the time of a prenatal examination during the third trimester.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Alterations in the HCT and the ALB levels in these groups were significantly different. Group 4 had a higher mean HCT-ALB value (P<0.01), but lower ALB and GLB values compared with the other three groups. We used Groups 2 and 3 as the respective reference to draw the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of HCT-ALB in Group 4, and found that the threshold values of maximum index corresponding were 12.95 and 12.65 (sensitivity>57.0%, specificity>98.9%), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The value of HCT-ALB>12.65 might be used as a potential biomarker for the auxiliary diagnosis of preeclampsia and eclampsia in HDP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, China.
authors.forename: Dong-Mei
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology, The Geriatrics Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, Yunnan 650041, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Mei
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, China.
authors.forename: Hai-Mei
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, China.
authors.forename: Yuan-Yuan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, China. Electronic address: xwbyn@126.com.
authors.forename: Wang-Bin
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004461:Eclampsia / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006400:Hematocrit; D006801:Humans; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012372:ROC Curve; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D012709:Serum Albumin
keywords: Albumin (ALB); Eclampsia; Hematocrit (HCT); Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP); Preeclampsia