Renal biomarkers in pre-eclampsia and their associations with severity of pre-eclampsia

Background: Preeclampsia is one of the leading causes of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in Nigeria and worldwide. It is not yet concluded as to whether or not elevated levels of serum creatinine and/or uric acid could be regarded as a predictive indicator for the severity of the disease. Objectives: To compare the mean serum levels of uric acid and creatinine in preeclamptic and normotensive pregnant women and assess for any associations between these renal biomarkers and the severity of preeclampsia in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional analytical study of 132 women with preeclampsia (n = 61) and normotensive pregnant women (n = 61). The study group comprised eligible consecutive women diagnosed with preeclampsia, whereas the control group comprised appropriately matched normotensive pregnant women. Main outcome measures included the mean serum levels of uric acid and creatinine in both groups, and their levels in cases with mild and severe degrees of preeclampsia. Results: The mean serum levels of uric acid and creatinine were significantly higher in women with preeclampsia than in normotensive pregnant women (7.67 ± 2.9 versus 4.56 ± 1.1; P < 0.001, and 0.76 ± 0.3 versus 0.53 ± 0.1; P < 0.001, respectively). There was no significant difference in the mean serum levels of uric acid and creatinine in women with mild and severe degrees of preeclampsia (6.66 ± 2.3 versus 7.77 ± 2.9; P = 0.37, and 0.56 ± 0.2 versus 0.79 ± 0.4; P = 0.12, respectively). Conclusions: This study has demonstrated that serum uric acid and serum creatinine levels are elevated in pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia. However, there is no significant association between serum levels of these renal biomarkers and the severity of preeclampsia. The studied renal biomarkers are therefore important in the diagnostic workup of preeclampsia but of limited value in the disease prognostication.