Abstract:

Objective: The purpose of study was to investigate erythrocyte indices in patients with preeclampsia. Materials and Methods: The study population consisted of 102 patients with preeclampsia (49 mild, 53 severe preeclampsia) and 98 control pregnant patients. For the entire study population, red blood cell indices, including baseline mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), red cell distribution width (RDW), and red blood cell (RBC) were measured by using an automatic blood counter. Results: In the preeclampsia group, the median RDW was 15% (13.8-16.57), whereas in the control group it was 13.9% (13-15.6) (p<0.01). On the other hand, the mean MCV value was 80.42±7.86 (fL) in preeclampsia group and 83.88±2.31 (fL) in control group (p=0.003). Besides, the mean MCHC value was 33.66±1.71 (g/dL) in preeclampsia group and 33.09±1.48 (g/dL) in control group (p=0.012). However MCH and RBC values were not statistically different between the groups. (p>0.05) Moreover, subgroup analysis revealed that RDW levels were significantly increased in preeclampsia subjects than in mild preeclampsia patients (15.4% (13.9-17.45) vs 14.3% (13.7-15.7), p=0.031), MCV levels were decreased (78.81±7.91 (fL) vs 82.16± 7.43 (fL), p=0.03), RBC values were increased (4.16 (3.79-4.85)x(1012/L) vs 3.82 (3.45-4.34)x(1012/L), (p=0.006)) in patients with severe preeclampsia when compared to the patients with mild preeclampsia. In the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis of subjects with and without preeclampsia, RDW and MCV showed high predictive values (p<0.01). Besides, in ROC analysis of preeclampsia patients with different severities, RDW and RBC showed the ideal predictive values (p=0.006, p=0.031, respectively). Conclusion: Our study results revealed that among the red blood cell indices, only increased RDW values were associated with both the presence and the severity of preeclampsia.

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