Background: Similarities in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia and metabolic syndrome have been described. This study is aimed at determining whether metabolic syndrome variables occur in eclampsia.
Methods: Consecutive 45 patients with eclampsia were prospectively compared with age, gestational age and parity-matched women with uncomplicated pregnancy. The main outcome measures included plasma lipids, glucose, electrolytes and uric acid levels.
Results: The patients were predominantly made up of ethnic Hausa primigravidae aged 15-30 years (mean: 19.5 +/- 4.2 years). As expected, patients with eclampsia had significantly higher blood pressure than controls: (systolic 163.0 +/- 24.7 vs. 124.8 +/- 18.1 mmHg, p = 0.001; diastolic 120.8 +/- 8.7 vs. 79.6 +/- 10.7 mmHg, p = 0.001). Compared to the controls, the eclamptics also had significantly higher total plasma cholesterol (5.1 +/- 0.7 vs. 4.6 +/- 0.4 mmol/L, p = 0.001), triglyceride (1.9 +/- 0.2 vs. 1.7 +/- 0.2 mmol/L, p = 0.01), uric acid (10.4 +/- 2.7 vs. 4.4 +/- 0.8 mol/L, p = 0.005) and blood glucose (6.3 +/- 2.3 vs. 5.0 +/- 1.0 mg/dL, p = 0.01). The risk for intrapartum eclampsia was significantly increased for women with hypercholesterolemia [odds ratio (OR) = 6.9; 95% CI: 2.5-20.7] hypertriglyceridemia (OR = 5.0; 95% CI: 1.79-14.32) and hyperuricemia (OR = 35.3; 95% CI: 9.6-14.3).
Conclusions: These results demonstrate that markers of metabolic syndrome also exist in this cohort of pregnant women with eclampsia and could suggest that both conditions are linked.