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Published on: August 2, 2017
Association between Plasma Short-Chain Fatty Acids and Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy: A Nested Case-Control
Dandan Wang1, Lei Wu2, Pei Feng3
1Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, Jiangsu, China.
Objective:
To investigate the associations between plasma short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP).
Methods:
A nested case-control study was conducted comprising 387 pairs of HDP cases and non-HDP controls. The HDP group included 291 cases of gestational hypertension (GH) and 96 of preeclampsia (PE) or chronic hypertension (CH) with superimposed PE (PE/CH-PE). Seven plasma SCFA levels were assayed at gestational weeks 16-20, before HDP onset. The individual effects of the seven SCFAs on HDP risk were analyzed using logistic regression, with false discovery rate (FDR) correction applied to calculate adjusted P-values in multivariate analysis. The joint effects of the seven SCFAs were evaluated using weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression.
Results:
HDP cases exhibited significantly lower median (interquartile range) valerate levels than controls (9 (5-14) vs. 10 (6-18) ng/mL, P = 0.001). Among the seven analyzed SCFAs, isobutyrate and isovalerate demonstrated the highest correlation coefficient at 0.85 (P < 0.001). Each interquartile range increase in valerate content was associated with a low risk of HDP, yielding an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 0.699 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.516-0.946, FDR-corrected P = 0.047). Isobutyrate and hexanoate were also inversely associated with HDP after multivariate adjustment and FDR correction (both P = 0.047), with aORs of 0.899 (95% CI: 0.826-0.980) and 0.686 (95% CI: 0.508-0.927), respectively. WQS regression revealed that joint SCFA exposure was associated with a decreased risk of HDP (aOR: 0.230, 95% CI: 0.105-0.506) and GH (aOR: 0.740, 95% CI: 0.571-0.933).
Conclusion:
Plasma levels of valerate, isobutyrate, and hexanoate are inversely associated with HDP risk. Furthermore, the combined effect of these SCFAs is linked to a lower incidence of both HDP and GH. These findings suggest that circulating SCFAs may serve as potential early biomarkers for HDP.
