Association of maternal serum homocysteine concentration levels in late stage of pregnancy with preterm births: a nested case–control study

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between maternal serum homocysteine (Hcy) levels in the late stage of pregnancy and preterm birth. Other relevant biochemical parameters were measured to establish the normal reference interval of serum Hcy in both women in the late stage of pregnancy and neonates.

Materials and methods: The nested case–control study included 300 singleton pregnant women with preterm births between June 2013 and May 2015 and their premature delivered babies as a preterm group. Blood sample within three days before delivery was collected. Simultaneously, 300 healthy pregnant women admitted during the same time, and singleton mature neonates who had gestational week-matched blood sample were age-matched as a control group.

Results: Maternal serum levels of Hcy, total triglycerides, total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), uric acid (UA), free fatty acids (FAA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were all higher in the preterm group than in the control group except high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Serum levels of Hcy, TC, LDL-C, UA, FAA and SOD were higher in prematurely delivered neonates than in the control group except for HDL-C. The body weight of prematurely delivered neonates was negatively correlated with the maternal serum levels of Hcy and UA before delivery.

Conclusions: Higher maternal serum Hcy levels were associated with preterm birth and neonatal body weight. Elevated maternal serum levels of Hcy might serve as a biomarker for preterm birth prediction.

Keywords:

• Homocysteine
• late stage of pregnancy
• preterm birth

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by subproject of national 863 plan for the study of in vitro diagnostic reagents for cardiovascular and chronic injury and emergency therapy indicators (the relationship between homocysteine and preterm neonatal, project number: 2011AA02A111), Guangzhou Medical Science and Technology project (the effect of PD-1/PD-L1 signal regulating Th17 cells in idiopathic preterm delivery, project number: 20141A010028) and Guangzhou Medical and Health Science and Technology project (the relationship between IL-23/Th17 axis and insulin resistance of gestational diabetes mellitus, project number: 20161A011030).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by subproject of national 863 plan for the study of in vitro diagnostic reagents for cardiovascular and chronic injury and emergency therapy indicators (the relationship between homocysteine and preterm neonatal, project number: 2011AA02A111), Guangzhou Medical Science and Technology project (the effect of PD-1/PD-L1 signal regulating Th17 cells in idiopathic preterm delivery, project number: 20141A010028) and Guangzhou Medical and Health Science and Technology project (the relationship between IL-23/Th17 axis and insulin resistance of gestational diabetes mellitus, project number: 20161A011030).