A Comparative Study of Total Albumin and Calcium Level between Preeclamptic Women Undergoing Magnesium Sulfate Therapy and with Normal Pregnancies

Abstract

Magnesium sulfate is used for seizure therapy and profilaxy in women with eclampsia and preeclampsia worldwide. Magnesium has effect on calcium modulation and also there are antithesis reports about alternation between magnesium sulfate therapy and decreased serum calcium level. Decreased in serum calcium level may cause some complications. The present study determines whether maternal serum level of calcium and albumin in patients with preeclampsia are lower than matched control subjects. Thirty patients with preeclampsia who were candidate for received magnesium sulfate therapy compared with 30 normal pregnant women as a control group. Serum calcium and albumin concentration were determined in 3 ml of venous blood sample that was taken before magnesium sulfate therapy, during and 24 hrs after discontinuation of therapy in preeclamptic women and also before and 8 hrs after delivery in normal pregnant women. Findings show no significance difference of maternal and gestational ages between the two groups. The change in mean concentration of albumin, total calcium level, and corrected serum calcium level was observed just significantly at the albumin level 24 hrs after the termination of therapy in preeclamptic group (3 mg/dl, 2.7 mg/dl) P=0.03. There is no any correlation between others items in two groups. In both two groups serum calcium level is more before delivery than after. In the preeclamptic group (9.1 mg/dl, 9 mg/dl) P=0.00 and in normotensive group (9.3 mg/dl, 9 mg/dl) P=0.00. According to this small group study magnesium sulfate therapy in preeclamptic women doesn't redounded to change in serum calcium level, but may lead to increased albumin level after delivery in control subject and also after discontinuation of the therapy in patients groups respectively. Keywords: Preeclampsia, Calcium, Albumin, Magnesium sulfate Preeclampsia has a high prevalence among pregnant women and it can lead to serious complications for them or even death 1, 2 . Magnesium sulfate is a common cure for prevention the eclampsia in these patients 3 . Ionic calcium is antagonized by magnesium ions 4,5 . Therefore, it seems that magnesium sulfate can decrease serum calcium and its adverse effects in preeclamptic patients. Decreased calcium serum is associated with some different effects such as convulsion, muscle spasm especially in the larynx, psychological problems, change in vital signs, and cardiac arrest; so that, it can potentially threaten life 6 . There are also some controversial reports on low calcium contents in preeclamptic patients [7][8][9][10] . In case of low calcium contents, magnesium sulfate can intensify the condition and cause serious complications 6 . Halhali et al. (2001) showed that preeclamptic patients have a low level of 2104 ASKARY et al., Biosci., Biotech. Res. Asia, Vol. 12(3), 2103-2110 (2015) parathormone and injection of magnesium sulfate can increase Calcitonin gene related peptide in them which leads to hypocalcemia 11 . Huang et al. (2004) injected magnesium sulfate to pregnant women...