Gestational hypertension (GH) is characterized most often by new-onset elevations of blood pressure (BP) after 20 weeks of gestation in the absence of accompanying proteinuria and can lead to hypertensive complications in pregnancy most commonly pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. Despite being a major contributor of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality, the cause of this entity is unclear. This study was designed to evaluate the role of serum creatine kinase-N-Acetyl-Cystein (CK-NAC), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in early prediction of severity of hypertension and hypertensive complications in pregnancy. A total of 300 subjects were recruited for this study. These comprised 150 (43 mild, 58 moderate and 49 severe) hypertensive and 150 age-matched normotensive individuals. The mean values of CK-NAC, LDH and CRP were significantly higher (P<0.05) in mild (185.0±71.5, 220.8±52.1 and 12.6±9.8), moderate (194.3±84.3, 226.4±52.7 and 18.7±8.9) and severe hypertensive subjects (187.9±67.3, 232.2±60.5 and 25.9±10.9 respectively) when compared with the control (101.6±27.7, 201.7±28.2 and 5.5±2.1). Also, the serum level of CRP was significantly elevated (P<0.05) as the severity of gestational hypertension progressed from mild (12.6±9.8) to moderate (18.7±8.9) and severe cases (25.9±10.9). The mean value of CK-NAC correlated positively with LDH (R=0.194, P=0.033) and CRP (R=0.173, P=0.041). Therefore, our results suggest that increased serum CK-NAC, LDH and CRP levels are associated with gestational hypertension, with CRP level showing more consistent association with the progression of gestational hypertension.

 

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