Abstract

Background: Pregnancy is a physiological process that elicits metabolic alterations among others, to ensure foetal growth and development. There is paucity of information on the effect of maternal age on the determination of lipid profile and hepato-renal function in pregnant women is sub-Saharan Africa


Aim: This study determined lipid profile, hepato-renal function in pregnant women in second and third trimesters as a function of maternal age.


Materials and Methods: 181 apparently healthy pregnant women in second and third trimesters were randomly recruited into this cross-sectional study. They comprised 33 women aged 18-30 years and 65 women aged 31-42 years in the second trimester. The participants in the third trimester comprised 32 women aged 18-30 years and 51 women aged 31-42 years. Body mass index (BMI), systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood (DBP) pressures were determined by standard methods. Plasma from venous blood obtained from each participant was used for the determination of total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), uric acid and creatinine using spectrophotometry method. Student’s t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient were used for the comparison of quantitative variables and relationship among variables, respectively. P was considered significant at <0.05.


Results: In pregnant women in the third trimester, SBP was significantly higher in women aged 31-42 years in comparison with women aged 18-30 years. Furthermore, AST was significantly higher in women aged 18-30 years in comparison with women aged 31-42 years. TC correlated positively with SBP in women aged 18-30 years in the second trimester. LDL correlated positively with uric acid and creatinine in women aged 18-30 years whereas, creatinine correlated inversely with DBP in women aged 30- 42 years in the third trimester


Conclusion: Observations in this study suggests that maternal age could be a factor in the assessment of lipid profile and hepato-renal function in pregnant women.