Association of Serum Prolactin Level with Preeclampsia
Introduction:Preeclampsia is a potentially fatal disorderof pregnant women; it remains an important cause of maternal mortality throughout the world. More than 50,000 maternal deaths occur worldwideeach year. Various researchers of different countries suggested an association of increase level of serumprolactin in preeclamptic patient. Estimation of serum prolactin level in pregnancy may be helpful in diagnosis of preeclampsia. Objective: Theobjective of the study is to observe the association of serum prolactin level with severity of preeclampsia. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectionalstudy was conducted from March 2020 to February 2021 in the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Department of Fetomaternal Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology, BSMMU and Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka. Fifty diagnosed patients of preeclampsia who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusioncriteria were selected as study population. At the same time 50 normal pregnant women were taken in another group. In both groups gestational age was calculated from last Menstrual date and confirmed by early ultrasound which wasdone at <14 weeks. Then serum prolactin level was calculated. Results: The mean serum prolactin level was 226.56±81.23 µg/L in mild and 394.53±78.75 µg/L in severe preeclampsia. The difference was statistically significant (p=0.001) between two groups.In ROC analysis cut off value of serum prolactin level was 118 μg/L.The area under curve (AUC) of serum prolactin was 0.923 (95% CI; 0.869-0.978). Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient test showed significant positive correlation (r=0.719,p=0.001) between serum prolactin level with severity of preeclampsia. This finding of the study revealed that serum prolactin level was increased with preeclampsia and was positive correlation with severity. Conclusion: Because of significantsensitivity and specificity, serum prolactin level maybe used as an important tool to diagnose preeclampsia and its severity.