A comparison of maternal calcium and magnesium levels in pre‐eclamptic and normotensive pregnancies: an observational case–control study

Objective Supplementing pregnant women at high risk of developing pre‐eclampsia with calcium may reduce the incidence of the disease. This study examines differences in serum and hair concentrations of calcium and magnesium between women with pre‐eclamptic and normotensive pregnancies. Design Observ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology 2014-02, Vol.121 (3), p.327-336
Main Authors: Richards, DGD, Lindow, SW, Carrara, H, Knight, R, Haswell, SJ, Spuy, ZM
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Calcium
Calcium - blood
Case-Control Studies
Diet
dietary
Female
Hair - chemistry
hair analysis
HIV Infections - blood
HIV Infections - complications
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Magnesium
Magnesium - blood
Pre-Eclampsia - blood
Preeclampsia
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - blood
Prenatal care
pre‐eclampsia
Risk factors
South Africa
Spectrum Analysis - methods
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objective Supplementing pregnant women at high risk of developing pre‐eclampsia with calcium may reduce the incidence of the disease. This study examines differences in serum and hair concentrations of calcium and magnesium between women with pre‐eclamptic and normotensive pregnancies. Design Observational case–control study. Setting Two teaching hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa. Population Women with pre‐eclamptic (N = 96) or normotensive (N = 96) pregnancies, who delivered a single, live infant. Methods Demographic and current pregnancy details were retrieved from clinical notes. Each participant completed a dietary questionnaire. Venous blood samples were taken from each participant to assess serum calcium and magnesium concentrations. Hair samples were obtained from all participants and calcium and magnesium levels were measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICPOES). Main outcome measure Hair and serum calcium and magnesium concentrations were compared between women with pre‐eclamptic and normotensive pregnancies. Results Diet and socio‐economic status in the two groups were similar. There was no significant difference in the hair calcium level between women with pre‐eclamptic [1241 parts per million (ppm); range, 331–4654 ppm] and normotensive (1146 ppm; range, 480–4136 ppm) pregnancies (P = 0.5). Hair calcium levels in both groups were not affected by HIV infection. Conclusion Woman with pre‐eclampsia showed no difference in chronic calcium status relative to normotensive women. This finding does not support the current belief that the mechanism by which calcium supplementation reduces the risk of developing pre‐eclampsia is by correcting a nutritional deficiency.
ISSN:1470-0328
1471-0528
DOI:10.1111/1471-0528.12436