CALCIURIA AND PREECLAMPSIA

Urinary calcium excretion has been reported to be diminished in preecl ampsia. The objective of the present study was to determine urinary ca lcium excretion in pregnant patients with chronic arterial hypertensio n (CAH) and preeclampsia (PE), and in normotensive patients (N). Forty -four pregnant patients (gestational age, 20-42 weeks; 18 CAH, 17 PE, 9 N) were evaluated for calciuria, proteinuria, plasma uric acid and b lood pressure. Patients with PE (82 +/- 15.1 mg/24 h) showed significa ntly lower calciuria (P<0.05) than the group with CAH (147 +/- 24.9 mg /24 h) and the N group (317 +/- 86.0 mg/24 h) (P<0.05, Student t-test) . Plasma uric acid was significantly higher in the PE group (6.1 +/- 0 .38 mg/dl) than the CAH group (5.0 +/- 0.33 mg/dl; P<0.05), which also presented higher proteinuria levels, although the difference was not statistically significant. Diastolic and systolic blood pressure did n ot differ between the PE (164 +/- 105 mmHg) and CAH(164 +/- 107 mmHg) groups. Calciuria was significantly lower in the group with preeclamps ia than in the group with chronic arterial hypertension. We conclude t hat calciuria can be a further factor for identifying preeclampsia.