Visfatin serum levels are increased in women with preeclampsia: a case-control study

Visfatin has been implicated in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia with limited and contradictory, however, results. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential association between visfatin serum concentration and preeclampsia.

Visfatin was determined in the serum of 38 women with preeclampsia and 38 women with uncomplicated pregnancies, matched for age and gestational age.

Similar baseline characteristics were present between the two groups in terms of age, body mass index, parity and gravidity. Serum visfatin was significantly increased in the preeclamptic women (median=10.3 ng/mL; interquartile range [IQR] =20) as opposed to their matched controls (median=2.6 ng/mL; IQR=1.4) (p<0.001). Univariate analysis revealed a strong linear correlation of visfatin levels with systolic (r=0.505, p<0.001), diastolic (r=0.467, p<0.001) and mean arterial blood pressure (r=0.497, p<0.001), as well as with uric acid concentrations in the serum (r=0.463, p<0.001). A receiver operating characteristics curve analysis illustrated that serum visfatin concentration is helpful in discriminating between preeclamptic or nonpreeclamptic women with an area under the curve of 0.887 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.794-0.948; p<0.001).

Visfatin serum concentration seems to be increased in preeclampsia as compared with uncomplicated pregnancy.