Could alterations in maternal plasma visfatin concentration participate in the phenotype definition of preeclampsia and SGA?

Figures & data

Table I.  Clinical and demographic characteristics of the study population.

	Normal pregnancy (n = 158)	P*	Preeclampsia (n = 43)	P^†	SGA (n = 55)	P^‡
Maternal age (years)	26 (22–31)	0.38	26 (21–30)	0.1	22 (19–29)	0.35
Parity	1 (0–2)	0.1	1 (0–1)	0.1	1 (0–1)	0.5
Pre-gestational BMI (kg/m^2)	23.5 (21.9–29.9)	0.62	24.5 (21.1–28.5)	0.2	23.2 (21.1–25.0)	0.24
GA at sampling (weeks)	33.0 (28.0–38.7)	0.22	31.7 (29.7–33.8)	<0.001	39.0 (38.0–39.7)	<0.001
GA at delivery (weeks)	39.7 (38.7–40.4)	<0.001	32.4 (30.4–34.1)	0.003	38.5 (38.0–39.8)	<0.001
Birth weight (g)	3430 (3190–3690)	<0.001	1460 (1130–2010)	<0.001	2600 (2330–2777)	<0.001

Values expressed as median (interquartile range).

GA, gestational age; BMI, body mass index.

*P: comparison between normal pregnancy and preeclampsia groups.

^†P: comparison between normal pregnancy and SGA groups.

^‡P: comparison between preeclampsia and SGA groups.

Figure 1.  Maternal plasma visfatin concentration in normal pregnant women, patients with preeclampsia and patients who delivered an SGA neonate. The median maternal plasma concentration of visfatin was significantly higher in patients with an SGA neonate than in those with either a normal pregnancy (20.0 ng/ml, interquartile range [IQR]: 17.2–24.6 vs. 15.2 ng/ml, IQR: 12.1–19.2, respectively; P < 0.001) or those with preeclampsia (14.5 ng/ml, IQR: 12.5–18.7; P < 0.001). The median maternal plasma visfatin concentration did not differ significantly between patients with preeclampsia and those with a normal pregnancy (P = 0.8).

Figure 2.  Maternal plasma visfatin concentration in patients with preeclampsia who delivered an SGA neonate, patients with preeclampsia who delivered an AGA neonate and patients without preeclampsia who delivered an SGA neonate. Among patients with preeclampsia, there was no significant difference in the median maternal plasma visfatin concentration between those with and without an SGA neonate (14.1 ng/ml, IQR: 11.8–17.5 vs. 14.9 ng/ml, IQR: 12.8–19.0, respectively; P = 0.5). The median maternal plasma concentrations of visfatin were significantly higher in patients with an isolated SGA neonate than in those with preeclampsia either with or without an SGA neonate (P < 0.001 for both comparisons).