Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Egyptian patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension.

Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy can cause severe maternal and fetal acute morbidity and mortality. Women with pre-eclampsia have been found to have alterations in calcium and vitamin D metabolism. There are conflicting results regarding the role of vitamin D deficiency in the development of pre-eclampsia. The aim was to compare 25 (OH) D level in patients with pre-eclampsia, eclampsia and normotensive pregnant women as well as to study the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency among the 3 groups. Patients and methods: Two hundred patients with preeclampsia, 100 with eclampsia and 200 normotensive pregnant controls were compared as regards vitamin D level. Results: Mean 25(OH)D level was lower in the pre-eclampsia (14.8 +/- 5.4 ng/mL) and in the eclampsia group (10.5 +/- 1.6 ng/mL) than in the pregnant controls (19.5 +/- 6.5 ng/mL) (P=0.002). This difference was only significant between the eclampsia group and the pregnant controls (P= 0.02). All eclampsia cases had vitamin D insufficiency as compared to 17.5% in the pre-eclampsia group and 39.5% in the control group. Deficiency of vitamin D (<12 ng/mL) was 47.5% in the pre-eclampsia group, 80% in the eclampsia group and only 10.5% in the control group (P= 0.035). Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent among Egyptian pregnant females. Our study supports the hypothesis that low vitamin D level can play a role in the development of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. Thus, supplementation might prevent or delay the development of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia especially in patients at a high risk.