Background: Pre-eclampsia is a gestational complication with immense outcomes on fetal and maternal health.

Aims: This study assessed haematologic and haemorheologic parameters of pre-eclamptic patients at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar.

Methods: Following ethical approval/consent, 90 subjects aged 18-45 years were enrolled. They comprised 30 pre-eclamptic patients admitted in antenatal ward, 30 pregnant women with no medical condition attending antenatal clinic and 30 apparently healthy non-pregnant women as control. Weight, height and blood pressures were measured while body mass index was calculated; a pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to obtain demographic data. Packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin (HB), red blood cell count (RBC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), white blood cell count (WBC) with differentials, platelet count and mean platelet volume (MPV) were determined using Sysmex Haematology autoanalyser. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, relative plasma viscosity, total protein, albumin, globulin and fibrinogen concentration were determined by standard techniques. Data analysis was by one-way analysis of variance on statistical package for social sciences version 20 with significance set at P< 0.05.

Results: Significantly lower (p< 0.05) PCV, HB, MCV and platelet count were observed among pre-eclamptic patients compared to the pregnant and non-pregnant controls. Conversely, body mass index, blood pressures, MCHC, WBC and MPV of pre-eclamptic patients were significantly higher (p< 0.05) versus pregnant and non-pregnant controls. There were also significant differences
(p< 0.05) in RBC and differential white cell count among the three groups. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate, relative plasma viscosity, fibrinogen concentration, total protein, albumin and globulin of pre-eclamptic patients were significantly higher (p< 0.05) compared to normal pregnant and non-pregnant controls.

Conclusions: Haematologic and rheologic changes occur in pre-eclampsia reflecting the body’s response to systemic inflammation induced by pregnancy and amplified by the presence of hypertension with resultant pre-disposition to complications of hypercoagulation.

« Back to ISTH 2020 Congress

ISTH Congress Abstracts - https://abstracts.isth.org/abstract/haematologic-and-haemorheologic-parameters-of-pre-eclamptic-patients-in-a-nigerian-tertiary-hospital/