Serum antioxidant micronutrient levels in pre-eclamptic pregnant women in Enugu, south-East Nigeria: a comparative cross-sectional analytical study

Abstract

Background Pre-eclampsia is a common obstetric complication of pregnancy in Nigeria, and oxidative stress has been implicated in its aetiopathogenesis. Despite this fact, there is a paucity of information regarding the serum antioxidant micronutrient status of pre-eclamptic Nigerian women. The objective of the was to determine the mean serum levels of some antioxidant trace elements (copper, zinc, selenium, magnesium, manganese) in pre-eclamptic pregnant women and compare with that of healthy pregnant women in Enugu, South-Eastern, Nigeria. Methods A cross-sectional analytical study was carried out at the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department of the University of Nigeria, Teaching Hospital Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu. Using atomic absorption spectrophotometry, the sera of 81 pregnant pre-eclamptic and 81 matched healthy pregnant controls were analyzed for the antioxidant micronutrients. Both descriptive and inferential analysis was performed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 and a P value of < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results The mean serum levels of copper, selenium, and magnesium were found to be significantly lower in the pre-eclamptic pregnant group when compared to the healthy pregnant controls (p < 0.05). The mean serum levels of zinc and manganese did not differ between the two groups (p > 0.05). All the mean serum levels of micro-nutrients studied did not vary by category of pre-eclampsia (with or without severity findings) except manganese which was significantly lower in pre-eclamptic women without severity findings when compared to those with severity findings (p = 0.043). Conclusions The serum levels of copper, selenium, and magnesium were significantly lower among pre-eclamptics when compared to their normal healthy controls. Low levels of selenium, copper, and magnesium may have contributed to the incidence of pre-eclampsia in our environment.

Serum selenium levels of pre-eclamptic and normal pregnant women in Nigeria: A comparative study

“…This finding is also in consonance with the findings of Akinloye et al [ 20 ] in Oshogbo South-West Nigeria. These lower selenium levels were also shown in many other similar studies [ 16 , 21 – 24 ]. Farzin et al [ 25 ] in Iran found a significantly lower selenium level between the preeclamptic and normotensive pregnant women, although serum selenium levels were within the normal range in both groups.…”

“…There has been an inconsistency (decreased selenium levels and no significant difference in selenium levels in normal pregnancy and pre-eclamptic women) in the relationship between the levels of serum Selenium and the occurrence of pre-eclampsia [15][16][17]. There is a scarcity of studies concerning maternal selenium status during pregnancy in Nigeria and inconsistency in findings from published studies led to the development of this research.…”

Maternal Serum Zinc Level and Pre-eclampsia Risk in African Women: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…In this review, a total of 12 studies were included [5, 19-21, 23, 28-34]. Nine of them were case-control [19][20][21][29][30][31][32][33][34] and three studies [5,23,28] were cross-sectional. Studies that have been conducted in Africa and published up to August 31, 2020, were included.…”

“…Seven of the included studies showed significantly lower serum levels of Zn in preeclamptic than normotensive pregnant women [5,19,20,[29][30][31][32]. However, five studies showed non-significant association between the serum levels of Zn and pre-eclampsia [21,23,28,33,34]. Pooled meta-regression analysis showed that the serum levels of Zn is statistically decreased in preeclamptic women as compared with normotensive pregnant women with a pooled SMD of −1.45 (95% CI −2.26, −0.65) (Fig.…”

“…Some studies have shown significant low levels of Zn in pre-eclamptic women as compared to normotensive pregnant women [18][19][20]. However, some studies have found that the serum Zn concentration was not varying significantly between the two groups [21][22][23]. Therefore, the present systematic review and metaanalysis was planned to generate summarized evidence on the association between maternal serum Zn levels and preeclamptic in African women.…”