Gilbert's syndrome is not associated with HELLP syndrome

The HELLP syndrome has been associated with postpartum unconjugated hyperbi lirubinaemia. Several types of disorders cause unconjugated hyperbilirubina emia, Gilbert's syndrome being the most common. In Caucasians a genetic def ect in the TATA box of the promotor region of the gene encoding for bilirub in UDP-glucuronyltransferase is tightly associated with Gilbert's syndrome. This defect was assessed by polymerase chain reaction in 237 women with th e HELLP syndrome in their obstetric history and 236 controls. Fifteen perce nt of the cases and 10% of the controls had a homozygous genetic defect (ch i (2) = 2.9, P = 0.23). No evidence was found that Gilbert's syndrome is as sociated with the HELLP syndrome.