Altered Haematological Variables of Pre-Eclamptic Patients in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Abstract

Pre-eclampsia is a gestational complication with immense outcomes on foetal/ infant and maternal health. This study assessed haematological variables of pre-eclamptic pregnant women receiving antenatal care at University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar. Following due ethical considerations, 90 subjects aged 18-45 years were enrolled. They comprised 30 pre-eclamptic patients admitted into the antenatal ward, UCTH; 30 pregnant women with no medical condition attending antenatal clinic, UCTH and 30 apparently healthy non-pregnant women of same age range as control subjects. Weight, height and blood pressure were measured while a pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to obtain demographic data. Packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin (HB), red blood cell count (RBC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), white blood cell count (WBC) with differentials, platelet count and mean platelet volume (MPV) were determined using Sysmex Haematology autoanalyzer (Sysmex, Japan). Significantly lower (p<0.05) PCV, HB, MCV and platelet count were recorded among pre-eclamptic patients compared to the pregnant and non-pregnant controls. Conversely, body mass index, blood pressures, MCHC, WBC and MPV of pre-eclamptic patients were significantly higher (p<0.05) compared to pregnant and non-pregnant controls. There were also significant differences (p<0.05) in RBC and differential white cell count among the three groups. Also, we observed appearance of protein in urine associated with increased blood pressure. It is concluded that haematological changes occur in pre-eclampsia and these changes reflect the bodys response to systemic inflammation induced by pregnancy and amplified by the presence of hypertension.