Interrelationship Between Serum Iron Concentra tion and Pregnancy-induced Hypertension and Chronic Hypertension in Pregnancy

Abstract

It is important to distinguish pregnancy-induced hypertension(PIH) from pregnancy complicated by chronic hypertension(CHT). Retrospective case-control studies demonstrated a correlation between serum iron concentration and PIH. This study is a cross-sectional study to compare the serum iron concentration among three groups of pregnant women i.e. normotensive (control), CHT and PIH. Of 180 pregnant women recruited, there were 45 CHT and 45 PIH. 90 controls were se lected by matching to CHT and PIH for age group, gestational age, hemoglobin and history of iron supplementation. The serum iron was determined in three phases i.e. antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum. It was shown that serum iron was significantly higher in delivery phase of PiH group both comparing to its own control or in pooled data and PIH group itself also demonstrated a peak of mean serum iron concentration during intrapartum when comparing to antepartum and postpartum phases. (Thai J Obstet Gynaecol 1991;2: 59-65.)