Plasma Levels of Vitamin A in Early Pregnancy and Correlationship with Hypertensive Disorder

Abstract

Objective. Analyzing the vitamin A content in early pregnancy and finding out the relationship between the serum levels of vitamin A of pregnant women and hypertensive disorder. Method. A total of 4,188 pregnant women who had took part in vitamin A testing in Miyun District Hospital from November 2016 to March 2020 were collected. The serum levels of vitamin A were determined by high performance liquid chromatography, and clinical and testing data were collected for statistical analysis. The original data outcome was finally analyzed with the SPSS. Results. 266 Hypertensive disorder cases and 2836 normal pregnancy cases were analyzed with 27 cases of twin pregnancy, 315 cases without follow-up and 744 of diabetic pregnancies excluded. The 266 women were divided into four groups: 110 women were diagnosed gestational hypertension, 65 women were diagnosed preeclampsia, 78 women were diagnosed pregnancy with chronic hypertension, and 13 women were diagnosed chronic hypertension with preeclampsia. The results shows that vitamin A level of the hypertensive group was 0.46(±0.08) mg/L, 0.47 (±0.012) mg/L, 0.47 (±0.09) mg/L, and 0.52 (±0.012) mg/L, respectively, while the level of normal group was 0.44 (±0.09) mg/L. We found that there were differences between the normal pregnant group and the preeclampsia group with statistical significance ( P < 0.05 ). The difference between the pregnancy with chronic hypertension group and the normal group was statistically significant ( P < 0.05 ). The difference between the chronic hypertension with preeclampsia group and the normal group was also statistically significant ( P < 0.05 ). Conclusion. Serum levels of vitamin A in early pregnant women have a certain correlation with the hypertensive disorder.

Dietary intake and serum concentrations of vitamin A and vitamin E and pre-eclampsia risk in Chinese pregnant women: A matched case-control study

“…However, a prospective study reported normal plasma VE concentrations in women with PE and identified a significant positive correlation between gestational age and VE concentrations among both the healthy controls and PE patients ( 46 ). A case–control study that included 4,188 pregnant women found higher serum concentrations of VA ( P < 0.05) in women with PE than in controls ( 47 ). Similarly, another study reported that the serum VA concentrations of pregnant women with PE at 12–20 weeks of gestation were higher than those of healthy controls ( 14 ).…”

“…The possible reason is that impaired renal function in PE reduces the renal catabolism of the VA carrier retinol-binding protein to transthyretin, thereby increasing circulating VA levels ( 49 ). Alternatively, late pregnancy is associated with increased levels of oxidative stress, and VA is a strong non-enzymatic antioxidant in the antioxidant defense system of the human body and has the functions of antioxidation, scavenging free radicals, and anti-apoptosis ( 47 , 50 ). If the serum VA content is low in pregnant women, it will cause excessive accumulation of free radicals and increase the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes ( 48 ).…”