Serum LDH And GGT as A Prognostic Factor in Preeclampsia: A Case-Control Study in A Tertiary Care Hospital

Pre-eclampsia is affecting 2% – 8% of the pregnancies worldwide1(Lo et al., 2013). Defective placentation and endothelial dysfunction are considered to be the core features that aggravate hypertension in pregnancy2,3 (Var et al., 2003), (Friedman et al., 1995). Serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) are most often measured to evaluate the presence of tissue damage associated with Pre-eclampsia.

Aim:  The aim of this study was to estimate serum LDH and GGT levels in the normal antenatal women and women with preeclampsia in the antepartum period and to correlate maternal and perinatal outcomes with these biomarkers across the study groups in a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: The study sample comprised of 147 Antenatal women with pre-eclampsia as cases and 147 Antenatal women without pre-eclampsia as controls. Serum LDH and GGT were measured and compared and correlated with maternal and perinatal outcome in both groups and data were analyzed using SPSS. Independent Sample t-tests, Chi-square, correlation, were employed. p<0.05 considered as significant. Results: Serum LDH and GGT level were significantly elevated in Antenatal women with pre-eclampsia (498.91 ± 147.125) when compared to Antenatal women without pre-eclampsia (259.84± 45.725). Elevated LDH and GGT levels were associated with worse perinatal outcome

Conclusion: This study elucidated that serum LDH and GGT levels were significantly increased in Antenatal women with pre-eclampsia when compared to Antenatal women without pre-eclampsia. Hence, serum LDH and GGT can be used as a novel biomarker for predicting early preeclampsia in pregnancy.