Abstract
This was a comparative cross-sectional study of eclamptic and normal healthy pregnant women conducted in kaduna State, Nigeria to determine Pregnancy Specific beta-1 Glycoprotein (PSG-1) levels in the peripheral blood of third trimester women with eclampsia (EC; n = 38), normal healthy pregnant and non pregnant women controls (PC; n = 25 and NPC; n = 25 respectively), age and parity matched, attending labour rooms/wards and Antenatal Clinics (ANC) of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Shika, Zaria and four other Hospitals in Kaduna state, Nigeria. Participants with smear positive malaria, seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or any other known clinical infection were excluded from this study. Pregnancy specific beta-1 glycoprotein levels were estimated using Quantikine ELISA kits. Data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 (Chicago, USA) and Graph pad Prism 6.0. Results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation while Kruskal Wallis test was used to determine the significant differences. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered to be significant. The mean serum level of PSG-1 in EC was 2.53 ± 0.11 pg/ml, PC; 2.56 ± 0.03 pg/ml) and NPC; 0.62 ± 0.20 pg/ml. There was no significant difference between EC and PC (P > 0.05). Pregnant women (with and without EC) had significantly higher mean serum values compared to NPC p < 0.05. While pregnancy was associated with high levels of PSG-1, the study did not support the hypothesis of low PSG-1 level in EC. A longitudinal study to capture changes in PSG-I levels in the course of pregnancy as they manifest is recommended.
Highlights
Eclampsia has remained a significant public health threat in both developed and developing countries, contributing to maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality globally [1] [2]
The result of this study showed that women with EC and normal healthy pregnant women had higher mean serum levels of Pregnancy-specific glycoproteins (PSGs)-1(P < 0.05) compared to concentration recorded in healthy non pregnant controls
There was a decrease in the mean serum Pregnancy Specific Beta-1 Glycoprotein (PSG-1) levels among the eclamptic women compared to the normal healthy pregnant group, the difference was not significant (P > 0.05)
Summary
Eclampsia has remained a significant public health threat in both developed and developing countries, contributing to maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality globally [1] [2]. The occurrence of generalized convulsion (s) in association with signs of preeclampsia (hypertension and proteinuria) in pregnancy and not caused by epilepsy or other convulsive disorders in pregnancy. While pre-eclamppsia (PE) and EC are not distinct disorders but the manifestation of the clinical features of the same condition [7], some features suggest that EC may have an immune pathology [8]. Susceptibility to EC varies from one woman to another, indicating genetic and immune factors [9]
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