ABSTRACT
Objective: to compare serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D level between preeclamptic and normotensive pregnancies
Study Design: cross-sectional analytical study
Place and Duration of Study: department of Physiology, Federal Postgraduate Medical Institute, Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore, in collaboration with Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and Lady Willingdon Hospital, Lahore, from March 2012 to April 2012
Methodology: thirty registered preeclamptic patients with systolic and diastolic blood pressure > 140/90 mm Hg on more than two occasions, 6 hours apart, and proteinuria at least 300 mg in 24-hour urine collection; and 30 normotensive uncomplicated pregnant women matched for age, gestational age, parity and BMI were included by convenient sampling technique. Vitamin D levels of less than 50 n mol/l [< 20 ng/ml] were the cutoff point. Spearman's rank correlation of vitamin D with systolic blood pressure and arterial pressure in both preeclamptic and normotensive pregnant women was presented in a tabulated form
Results: vitamin D deficiency was found in 95% of preeclamptic and normotensive pregnant women. The difference of vitamin D level between the two groups was not found significant. Although there was an inverse correlation between serum vitamin D and systolic blood pressure and arterial pressure in preeclamptic group, but this was not statistically significant
Conclusion: vitamin D deficiency does not seem to be affected by the state of preeclamptic and normotensive pregnancy. The correlation of systolic blood pressure and arterial pressure and vitamin D needs to be explored further by increasing the sample size