Is There Evidence of Separate Inflammatory or Metabolic Forms of Preeclampsia?

Abstract

Objectives. To examine whether high insulin resistance versus high inflammation identifies subtypes of preeclampsia. Methods. A cytokine panel, glucose and insulin were measured in 37 preeclampsia plasma samples. Wilcoxon rank sum assessed median concentration of HOMA_IR by pro-inflammatory:anti-inflammatory ratio. Regression stratifying by BMI and preterm birth was conducted. Results. There was no difference in median HOMA_IR by the pro-inflammatory:anti-inflammatory ratio (p = 0.16). No subsets scatterplot clusters emerged. A positive correlation between HOMAlog and the ratio was significant (p = 0.04). Conclusions. No dichotomous subsets of preeclampsia by inflammation versus insulin resistance were detected. Contrary to our hypothesis, insulin resistance was higher as inflammation increased in preeclampsia.

• Multi-plex cytokines
• Subtypes
• Systems biology
• Pregnancy complication

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and its Center for Research and Evaluation funding to Dr. Founds, NIH PO1 HD30367 to Dr. Roberts, and the BIRCWH-K12HD043441-06 to Dr. Catov.

Declaration of Interest

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