Low vitamin D during pregnancy linked to preeclampsia

Vitamin D deficiency early in pregnancy is associated with a five-fold increased risk of preeclampsia, according to a study released Friday by University of Pittsburgh. A serious complication of pregnancy marked by soaring blood pressure and swelling of the hands and feet, preeclampsia is the leading cause of premature delivery and maternal and fetal illness and death worldwide, conservatively projected to contribute to 76,000 deaths each year. "Our results showed that maternal vitamin D deficiency early in pregnancy is a strong, independent risk factor for preeclampsia," said Lisa Bodnar, lead author of the study published this week in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. "Women who developed preeclampsia had vitamin D concentrations that were significantly lower early in pregnancy compared to women whose pregnancies were normal," she added. For this investigation, researchers evaluated data and banked blood samples taken from women and newborns between 1997 and 2001 at Magee-Women Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and affiliated private obstetrician practices. Data were analyzed for 1,198 women enrolled in the study. Out of this group, 55 cases of preeclampsia and 220 controls were selected for further study. They found that low vitamin D early in pregnancy was associated with a five-fold increase in the odds of preeclampsia. Data showed this increased risk persisted even after adjusting for other known risk factors such as race, ethnicity and pre-pregnancy body weight. And since newborn's vitamin D stores are completely reliant on vitamin D from the mother, low vitamin levels were also observed in the umbilical cord blood of newborns from mothers with preeclampsia, said the researchers.