Association of fibrinogen and C-reactive protein with severity of preeclampsia

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the levels of plasma fibrinogen and C-reactive protein (CRP) in preeclampsia and their association with the severity of the disease. Study design: CRP and plasma levels of fibrinogen were investigated in 26 cases of normal pregnant women, 26 cases with mild preeclampsia and 26 cases with severe preeclampsia in the third trimester of pregnancy. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was used as an indicator of the severity of the disease. Analysis of variance with the Kruskal-Wallis test was used when three groups were compared. For correlations, Spearman's rank correlation tests were used. A receiver operating characteristic curve was constructed to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of CRP. Results: Plasma CRP and fibrinogen levels in mild and severe preeclampsia patients were markedly higher than that of normal third trimester pregnant women. There were significant correlations between MAP and CRP (r = 0.515, p = 0.0001) and MAP and fibrinogen parameters (r = 0.383, p = 6.005) in pregnancies complicated with preeclampsia. Conclusion: We found higher levels of fibrinogen and CRP and presence of good correlation between CRP and MAP in preeclampsia. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.