Level of serum uric acid in patients with preeclampsia compared to controls and its relation to feto-maternal outcome

Background: Uric acid is the final product of the purine metabolism in humans. The two final reactions in its production which catalyze the conversion of hypoxanthine to xanthine and the latter to uric acid are catalyzed by the enzyme xanthine oxidoreductase. The role of uric acid in the progression of prediabetes to diabetes has been known. Serum uric acid has been shown to be associated with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. The present study was done to see the level of uric acid in preeclampsia and  healthy pregnant controls, to relate serum uric acid results to the severity of hypertension and its relation to fetomaternal outcome in patients attending OPD at RMC Ajmer.Methods: 100 cases of preeclampsia of age group between 20-40 year and gestational age ≥28 weeks and 100 normal healthy women with similar gestational age and age group were included in the study and maternal serum uric acid was estimated in both groups.Results: Mean serum uric acid levels in preeclampsia was 7.65±081 mg/dl and 3.21±072 mg/dl in control group. Perinatal complication was more in case group, 74 % were preterm compared to 11% in control group. Mean birth weight in study group was 2.07 kg, of which 24% babies were VLBW 52% were LBW, and 24% babies had normal birth weight, in control group mean birth weight was 2.82 kg. The difference was found to be statistically significant (p value 0.001). In the study group, the MSUA concentration is found higher in LBW and VLBW babies compared to normal birth weight babies.Conclusions: There is a positive correlation between SUA & severity of preeclampsia, and a significant adverse fetal outcome is observed with raised MSUA in preeclamptic patients.