RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Pregnancy hypertension can lead to many pregnancy complications and increases the risk of maternal morbidity and mortality. METHODS: To investigate the effects of blood manganese (Mn) on the development of pregnancy hypertension, 364 healthy women were examined during early pregnancy until delivery. RESULTS: At the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, concentrations of Mn in maternal blood were significantly higher in the hypertensive pregnant women than in the normotensive women. The logistic regression analysis demonstrated significant relationships between Mn concentrations in maternal blood for the first and second trimesters of pregnancy with gestational hypertension [OR (95% CI) = 47.0 (4.0-556.4) and 5.5 (1.1-29.0), respectively]. CONCLUSION: The present study thus suggested that increased Mn during pregnancy might be a potential risk factor for inducing pregnancy hypertension.