Maternal vitamin D and fetal growth in early-onset severe preeclampsia.
Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2011 Mar 16.
Robinson CJ, Wagner CL, Hollis BW, Baatz JE, Johnson DD.
Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC.
OBJECTIVE:
Recently, vitamin D deficiency has been associated with increased risks for preeclampsia and diagnosis of early-onset, severe preeclampsia (EOSPE). The purpose of this investigation was to examine the association between vitamin D levels and small-for-gestational age (SGA) in patients with EOSPE.
STUDY DESIGN:
Patients with EOSPE were recruited, and demographics, outcomes, and plasma were collected. We assessed 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) by radioimmunoassay and reported our findings in nanograms per milliliter. Results were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman correlation and were reported as median (Q1-Q3).
RESULTS:
In patients with EOSPE (n = 56), 25(OH)D was lower in patients with SGA (16.8 ng/mL; range, 8.9-23 ng/mL) vs normal fetal growth (25.3 ng/mL; range, 16-33 ng/mL; P = .02). 25(OH)D was correlated significantly with percentile growth at delivery (? = 0.31; P = .02).
CONCLUSION:
Vitamin D is lower among patients with SGA in EOSPE than those without growth retardation. We suspect that vitamin D may impact fetal growth through placental mechanisms.