Association Of Raised Serum Triglycerides With Incidence Of Pre-Eclampsia

Background: Pre-eclampsia, a serious multi-systemic pregnancy complication is estimated to occur in 5-10% of pregnancies worldwide. Objective: To determine the frequency of pre-eclampsia in pregnant females with hyper-triglyceridemia and to study its associations. Methodology: This Cross-sectional study was conducted at Gynecology Dept. Poly Clinic Hospital, Islamabad (March - Sept. 2022). Pregnant females of age 15-40 years, gestational age 13-20th weeks and singleton pregnancy were included. Known hypertensives, receiving lipid-lowering or anti-hypertensives, chronic kidney or liver disease, teenage pregnancies, primigravida, history of CVA, IHD, epilepsy or endocrine disorders were excluded. After the detailed clinical evaluation, fasting serum triglyceride levels were checked. A total of 225 cases with elevated serum triglycerides were finally selected and evaluated for the presence of pre-eclampsia by monitoring the blood pressure, cardiovascular, gynaecological examination and urine for the presence of proteinuria. Patients were followed till the development of pre-eclampsia or completion of pregnancy.  Results: Among 225 pregnant females with raised serum triglycerides, the mean age was 24.28+5.5 years. Pre-eclampsia was observed in 47(20.89%) of patients.  The Chi-square tests of association between pre-eclampsia and each of parity, residential status, and socio-economic status were insignificant while BMI and Gestational age were significant.  Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of pre-eclampsia in pregnant women with hypertriglyceridemia. Serum triglyceride levels may predict the women at risk for pre-eclampsia. The risk of preeclampsia in women with hyper-triglyceridemia is independent of parity, and socioeconomic or residential status. Hypertriglyceridemia may predispose to pre-eclampsia even at lower BMI levels. The development of hypertriglyceridemia in early gestation may be an additional risk factor. Early screening of women at risk may lead to better outcomes.