Comparison of Serum Calcium and Zinc Levels in Normal Pregnancy and Pregnancy with Pre-eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia is the most common medical complication of pregnancy associated with increased maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. Pre-eclampsia is defined as the triad of hypertension, proteinuria and oedema occurring after 20 weeks gestation in a previously normotensive woman. Lowering of serum calcium and increase in intracellular calcium causes vasoconstriction, increase in peripheral resistance and increase in blood pressure whereas lack of zinc causes increase in lipid peroxidation leading to pre-eclampsia. The present study was conducted in randomly selected 100 pregnant females. They were divided into two study groups which included 50 pregnant females with pre-eclampsia at gestation of 20 weeks or more and control group which included 50 normotensive pregnant females. Serum calcium was done by ortho-cresolphthalein complex one method and serm zinc was done by Nitro PAPS method on semi-autoanalyser. Total serum calcium levels were found to be 9.66 [+ or -] 0.37mg/dl in normal pregnancy and 8.18 [+ or -] 0.24mg/dl in preeclampsia. The difference was found to be statistically significant. Also significantly decreased (P value=0.008) serum zinc was found in normal pregnant females (114.58 [+ or -] 123.34) in comparison to preeclampsia patients (67.12 [+ or -] 8.05). Low levels of serum calcium and zinc have been found to be involved in development and pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. Hence it is suggested that these investigations should be an integral part of the routine workup in early pregnancy for timely recognition and intervention in preeclampsia.