Elevated levels of lipoprotein(a) in women with preeclampsia.

Abstract

We examined the hypothesis that lipoprotein(a) levels are elevated in preeclampsia and associated with severity of the disease. Plasma lipoprotein(a) levels were measured in 24 normal pregnant women, 18 mild, and 8 severe preeclamptic women using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Kruskall-Wallis one-way analysis of variance was used to evaluate the difference in plasma lipoprotein(a) among different groups. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the differences between two groups. The plasma lipoprotein(a) levels were increased in pregnant women with both severe preeclampsia (median 826.9 mg/L [interquartile range 590.7, 986.9 mg/L], n = 8, p < 0.0001) and mild preeclampsia (median 357.7 mg/L [interquartile range 208.0, 477.1 mg/L], n = 18, p < 0.0001) compared with normal pregnancy (median 78.5 mg/L [interquartile range 45.2, 127.9 mg/L], n = 24). The lipoprotein(a) level was significantly higher in severe than in mild preeclampsia (p < 0.001). This study has demonstrated that lipoprotein(a) levels are elevated in preeclampsia and associated with severity of the disease. It may serve as a marker of the pathogenic process.