Evaluation of platelet and inflammatory indices in isolated gestational proteinuria in term pregnancies

INTRODUCTION: Isolated gestational proteinuria (IGP) is new onset gestational proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation in which the pregnancy is to be completed with normal maternal blood pressure and no signs of preeclampsia with no history of hypertension, diabetes, malignancy, autoimmune or kidney disease. IGP can be the first symptom of preeclampsia, however there is no consensus on whether IGP is a mild form of preeclampsia, in which immunologic factors and inflammation take role in pathogenesis. Platelet and inflammatory indices are changed under inflammation as under systemic inflammation neutrophilia, lymphopenia and thrombocytosis and platelet activation occur. Platelet indices are mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet volume distribution width (PDW). Inflammatory indices include neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-lymphocyte ratio(PLR). This study compared the platelet and inflammatory indices between IGP and healthy pregnancies.
METHODS: Thirty-two IGP and 60 healthy term pregnancies were recruited. Proteinuria was detected in 24-hours urine sample if proteinuria exceeded 300 mg/day. Platelet and inflammatory indices were obtained and calculated from complete blood count test. The groups were compared with respect to participant characteristics, MPV, PDW, NLR and PLR. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
RESULTS: There was no significant difference among the two groups in terms of participant characteristics, pregnancy outcomes. The platelet and inflammatory indices were not significantly different between the groups.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Mean platelet volume, PDW, NLR and PLR were not significantly different between healthy and IGP pregnancies. The pathophysiology of IGP is still controversial in the literature, but this study showed that inflammatory status was not different in IGP pregnancies than healthy pregnancies.