Increased serum ferritin levels in women with preeclampsia

Abstract

To study the correlation between serum ferritin level and the severity of preeclampsia. Methods: This was a case-control study conducted in the emergency ward of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Suez Canal University Hospitals. We recruited sixty patients with preeclampsia and 60 normal pregnant women before parturition. All women were subjected to complete history and routine obstetric ultrasonography evaluation. Serum ferritin, serum iron, transferrin saturation, total iron-binding capacity, and unsaturated iron-binding capacity were assessed for all participants. Results: The mean serum ferritin was significantly higher in mild and severe preeclampsia groups vs. the control group (33.27 ± 6.9 and 69.47 ± 20.1 ng/ml versus 16.9 ± 20.9ng ng/ml, respectively, p-value < 0.001). Regarding, the mean serum iron level in the mild, severe preeclampsia and control groups, it was 201.87 ± 58.13, 219.4 ± 53.1 µg/dl and 173.9 ± 56.58 µg/dl respectively (p-value < 0.05). There was a highly significant correlation between ferritin and each of systolic and diastolic blood pressures (r= 0.8, p<0.001 and r=0.7, p<0.001 respectively).