C-Reactive Protein in Hypertensive Disorders in Pregnancy

Abstract

Hypertension is the most frequent medical complication of pregnancy. A recent report demonstrates the flogistic pathogenesis of pregnancy-induced hypertension. Because C-reactive protein (CRP) is a marker of inflammation, it can be used in the differential diagnosis of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. A total of 322 pregnant women at 24 to 32 weeks' gestation were enrolled. The control group (A) comprised 190 women. Sixty-three women had preeclampsia (PE, group B), 31 women presented transient hypertension (TH, group C), 19 had HELLP syndrome (HS, group D) and 19 had chronic hypertension (CH, group E). CRP serum concentrations were significantly higher in groups B, C, and D in comparison with the group A. In the whole population, systolic and diastolic pressure value inversely correlate with weight at delivery and weeks of gestation at delivery. CPR levels in patients with PE and HS inversely correlate with birth weight and gestational week at delivery. Normal plasma levels of CRP may be an important marker of differential diagnosis between TH and CH. In TH, PE, and HS, CRP levels were higher than in the control and CH groups, suggesting that inflammation may be the common pathogenetic cause of TH and PE. Finally CRP levels in preeclampsia are believed to correlate with preeclamptic process severity.

Association of Serum C-reactive Protein in Preeclampsia and its Effect on Fetal Birth Weight – A Case Control Study

“…1) regression analysis showed that CRP had significant negative correlation with birth weight (birth weight: r= -0.367; p<0.05) . Age range of pre-eclamptic patient are similar in other studies 15,16 like ours.…”

Assessment of left ventricular structure and function in preeclampsia by echocardiography and cardiovascular biomarkers

“…The differences in results might be due to small size (n ¼ 6 women) and heterogeneity of the preeclampsia group in Fleming's study. Neither did we find statistical difference in CRP levels between normal pregnancy and preeclampsia, although other previously found higher levels of CRP in preeclampsia [43].…”

Dysregulation of the Circulating and Tissue-Based Renin-Angiotensin System in Preeclampsia

“…42 We showed earlier that Ang II increases CRP in a model of target-organ damage. 43 Shagdarsuren et al 44 showed recently that human CRP contributes to cardiovascular disease and that the effect can be abrogated by a small molecule inhibitor of CRP. Conceivably, such a molecule could be useful to clinically explore in preeclamptic patients.…”