Azra Syed, Abdul Baseer, Syed Salahuddin Ahmed.
Pregnancy Induced Hypertension and Antioxidant Vitamins.
Ann Abbasi Shaheed Hosp Karachi Med Dent Coll Jan ;5:183-7.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the plasma serum level of four potent antioxidant nutrients, ascorbic acid, alpha tocopherol, beta carotene and vitamin A in normal pregnancy and pregnancy induced hypertension. A cross sectional study was done on pregnant women with and without pregnancy induced hypertension. Plasma levels of four antioxidants were analyzed using spectrophotometric colorimetric analysis. One hundred and ten pregnant women visiting the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Jinnah Post Graduate Medical center, Karachi, were recruited for this study. Our findings demonstrate that plasma levels of ascorbic acid were significantly decreased in mild to severe cases of pregnancy induced hypertension, whereas alpha tocopherol and beta carotene levels were decreased in severe cases only. We hypothesize that in pregnancy induced hypertension, antioxidants may be utilized to a greater extent to counter act free radical mediated endothelial cell injury. Our study show that plasma ascorbic acid levels were significantly lower in both mild (0.36±0.01) and severe (0.3±0.02) cases of pregnancy induced hypertension (P<0.001) when compared with the normal (0.49±0.028) group. Serum alpha tocopherol (0.32±0.01) and beta carotene (0.04±0.01) levels were lower only in severe cases as compared to normal group (0.78±0.04, 0.131±0.04, respectively, P<0.001). Serum vitamin A levels remain unaltered.

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