Longitudinal Study of Plasma Lipids and Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Normal Pregnancy and Puerperium

Abstract

Plasma lipids and lipoprotein cholesterol distribution were measured in 60 normal pregnancies studied longitudinally at 12, 20, 28, and 36 weeks of gestation and 3 and 40 days postpartum. Total cholesterol, unesterified cholesterol, phospholipids, triglycerides and cholesterol in low- and very-low-density lipoproteins rose progressively during pregnancy. Maximal values were reached at 36 weeks for total cholesterol, unesterified cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and at partum for triglycerides, very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and phospholipids. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol was hardly affected by pregnancy. During the second half of pregnancy and postpartum period, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was consistently and negatively correlated with triglycerides and very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. In each period studied total cholesterol showed very high positive correlation with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol but a weak correlation with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Do Long-Term HDL-C Declines Associated with a First Birth Vary by apo E Phenotype? The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study

“…46 During gestation, TC and LDL-C levels increase by 40%-50%, TG levels increase by more than 2-fold, 47,48 and HDL-C increases by 0-25%. During the puerperium, TG returns rapidly to baseline, 49,50 whereas TC and LDL-C 49 have a slower decline throughout the first year postpartum. By 1 year postpartum, HDL-C levels decline below preconception levels, 4,50 and larger HDL-C declines have been reported in primiparas compared with nulliparas over several years.…”

Determinants of serum polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides measured in women from the child health and development study cohort, 1963-1967.

“…In this study, a number of our predictors of interest are also related to blood lipid levels. Lipids, and particularly triglycerides, increase substantially during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy (64,65); AfricanAmerican women have been found to have lower blood triglycerides than white women (66); increasing age has also been positively associated with blood lipids (67). We therefore chose to examine predictors of serum organochlorines with total lipids as a separate model term and serum organochlorine concentration as the dependent variable.…”

Lipoprotein metabolism of pregnant women is associated with both their genetic polymorphisms and those of their newborn children

“…This absence of correlation was not surprising given the very weak level (or the absence) of such correlations in the literature (22,(25)(26)(27) and given the narrow range of variations of maternal age, gestational age, and newborn weight attributable to our selection process. As described previously (15), maternal lipids correlated slightly with newborn lipids, the best correlations being between newborn and maternal LDL (R ϭ 0.26, R 2 ϭ 6.7%, P Ͻ 0.001), between newborn and maternal HDL-C (R ϭ 0.11, R 2 ϭ 1.2%, P ϭ 0.009), between newborn and maternal triglyceride (R ϭ 0.11, R 2 ϭ 1.2%, P ϭ 0.02), between newborn and maternal apoA-I (R ϭ 0.10, R 2 ϭ 1.0%, P ϭ 0.02), and between newborn LDL-C and maternal apoB (R ϭ 0.18, R 2 ϭ 3.2%, P Ͻ 0.001).…”