Serum testosterone levels during early pregnancy in patients developing preeclampsia

Abstract

Objective. The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the possible association between hyperandrogenemia and preeclampsia by analysing serum testosterone (T) in pregnant women with a specific liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method. Study design. Serum levels of T, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and testosterone/sex hormone binding globulin-ratio (T/SHBG-ratio) were determined during the first and second trimester in pregnancy from 91 pregnant women who later developed preeclampsia and from 182 healthy controls. Results. There were no significant differences in serum T levels measured by LC-MS/MS between the patients and matched controls. The fetal gender had no influence on serum hormone levels or differences between the groups. Nor were there any significant differences in individual changes of hormones between the two sample taking periods. The results were unaffected by the matching of maternal body mass index (BMI) or other interfering factors such as parity, maternal age at the sample collection time and maternal smoking in multiple regression analyses. Conclusion. The concentrations of serum T, SHBG and the T/SHBG-ratio in early pregnancy do not predict the development of preeclampsia.

Key words::

• Disease marker
• androgen
• pregnancy complication
• hypertension
• urinary proteins excretion
• liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
• sex hormone binding globulin

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mrs Tiina Vierjoki (Wallac, Perkin-Elmer, Finland) for providing us with the SHBG reagents.

Financial support: This study was supported by Helsinki University Central Hospital Research Funds and the Finnish Foundation for Promoting Laboratory Medicine.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.