Calcio sérico total e ionizado en el segundo trimestre del embarazo como predictor de preeclampsia

Objective

To establish usefulness of serum concentrations of total and ionised calcium in the second trimester of pregnancy as a predictor of the development of pre-eclampsia.

Material and methods

A prospective and observational was performed on 504 nulliparous pregnant women between 17 and 20 weeks gestation, who attended the Antenatal Clinic of the Hospital Central “Dr. Urquinaona”, Maracaibo, Venezuela. An analysis was performed on the general characteristics, total and ionised serum calcium concentrations, and prognosis efficacy.

Results

The cases were 41 pregnant women who developed pre-eclampsia (Group A) and 463 pregnant women that were considered as controls (Group B). No significant differences were observed in maternal age, gestational age, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure at the time of the ultrasound evaluation (p = ns). Gestational age at the time of pre-eclampsia diagnosis in group A was 35.0 ± 3.2 weeks. It was found that patients who developed preeclampsia had significantly lower values of total (6.6 ± 2.3 mg/dL) and ionised calcium (0.9 ± 0.2 mmol/L) compared with those patients who did not develop pre-eclampsia 8.1 ± 0.9 mg/dL and 1.2 ± 0.4 mmol/L; respectively; p < .001). It was observed that none of the markers had a value under curve greater than 0.75 that would make it significant and would allow its use for the prediction of pre-eclampsia.

Conclusion

Serum concentrations of total and ionised calcium in the second trimester are not useful to predict the development of pre-eclampsia.