Early pregnancy deficiency of vitamin D and the risk of preeclampsia

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between maternal deficiency of vitamin-D in early pregnancy and the risk of development of preeclampsia, and assessing the vitamin-D status of newborns of preeclamptic mothers. Prospective study. A prospective study was conducted in two tertiary hospitals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from May 2005, till January 2007. Five hundred healthy pregnant women were chosen for the study, a blood sample was extracted from each patient at gestational age 15-20 weeks and serum saved. By the end of ante- natal care, the 41 patients who developed preeclampsia were classified group 1, while 70 normo-tensive patients constituted group 2. At the time of delivery a cord blood sample is taken from newborns of patients in the two groups. Sera of each patient and her newborn are checked for S. active vitamin-D and S. Calcium. Comparison is made between women of the preeclamptic group and the control regarding age, parity, mean s. active vitamin-D and s. Calcium. Similar comparison is made between patients with severe [n=15] and mild preeclampsia [n=26]. Newborns of preeclamptic and control women are also compared regarding the mean levels of s. Vitamin-D and s. Calcium. There was no statistical difference between the two groups regarding the mean age and parity. The sera of patients with preeclampsia showed significantly lower levels of mean active vitamin D [44.87 +/- 3.66] and S. Calcium [8.33 +/- 0.525] than in the control group [59.05 +/- 4.73 and 9.66 +/- 0.67] with no statistical difference between mild and severe preeclampsia. Sera of newborns of preeclamptic patients have significantly lower levels of s. active vitamin-D [38.8 +/- 2.492] and s. calcium [8.26 +/- 2.39] than newborns of the control patients. Early pregnancy deficiency of active vitamin-D is a risk factor for development of preeclampsia. Measurement of s. vitamin-El in early pregnancy can be a reliable screening test for the prediction of development of preeclampsia. External administration of vitamin-El in early pregnancy is expected to be of value in prophylaxis of preeclampsia