Maternal serum lipid profile in pregnancies complicated by hypertensive disorders

Plasma lipoprotein, cholesterol and triglycerides were determined in 34 hypertensive pregnant patients and in 17 healthy full term pregnant women. Pregnancy induced hypertension was diagnosed in 21 patients and chronic hypertension in the remaining 13 women. Serum triglyceride levels were significantly elevated in the hypertensive patients. This elevation was not influenced by either the severity or the etiology of the hypertension. The total cholesterol/HDL and the LDL/HDL ratios were significantly elevated in the severely hypertensive patients, and furthermore the LDL/HDL ratio was elevated in patients receiving anti-hypertensive treatment. The lipid profiles found in hypertensive pregnant patients could be associated with enhancement of pathological lipid deposition in predisposed vessels such as the uterine spiral arteries. Furthermore, the hypertriglyceridemia found in the hypertensive patients may be associated with the hypercoagulability reported in pregnancy induced hypertension.