Publication Details
Abstract
Background: Early detection of preeclampsia is among the valuable aims of antenatal care in order to provide proper and early management to enhance the results.
Aim: To examine the concentration of urinary nephrin and urinary podocalyxin in a group of Iraqi pregnant women with preeclampsia and compare the relation between the concentration of urinary nephrin and urinary podocalyxin and the magnitude of preeclampsia.
Method: A case-control study was done in the Alzahraa Maternity and Pediatrics Teaching Hospital / Najaf Governorate / Iraq between the 1st of January 2024 and the 1 st of September 2024. The sample size of the present study was a convenient sample of 90 pregnant women who presented between the third trimester (28-40 weeks) of pregnancy. The sample had two groups, which were the case group comprising of 45 pregnant women with preeclampsia. There were 45 healthy non-preeclamptic pregnant women who constituted the control group. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit was used to measure the urinary nephrin and podocalyxin levels.
Findings: The urinary nephrin and urinary podocalyxin in patients with non-severe preeclampsia and with severe preeclampsia were significantly higher than the level of the control group ( P-value=0.001). The Receiver Operator Characteristic curve was used in selecting the urinary nephrin level of over 1.1 ng/ml and the urinary podocalyxin level of over 32 ng/ml to be used as a predictor of preeclampsia.
Conclusion: The levels of urinary nephrin and podocalyxin differed significantly between patients with preeclampsia and healthy non-preeclamptic pregnant women with the cut-offs greater than 1.1 ng/ml and 32 ng/ml, respectively. The level of urinary nephrin and podocalyxin were highly incremented in patients with severe preeclampsia as compared to those with non-severe preeclampsia. The urinary nephrin and podocalyxin levels showed significant correlations with blood pressure, test of renal functions, liver functions test, and platelets count.