Serum Lead and Phosphorus Levels in Sudanese Pregnant Woman with Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is one of the causes that lead to mortality among pregnant woman and fetus. However it is etiology is unknown. The objective of this study was to assess the level of serum lead and it is relation with serum phosphorus in the development of preeclampsia. This study was case control hospital based study, Blood samples were collected from 50 preeclamptics, 50 normal pregnant women. Serum lead was determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometer and serum Phosphorus was determined by using spectrophotometer. The study was conducted during the period of January to April 2015. The mean ±SD of serum lead and phosphorus respectively were(0.98±0.26, 3.98±0.81) for preeclampsia ,while the mean±SD of serum lead and phosphorus respectively in normal pregnant women were(0.32±0.11, 3.6±.66 ). lead was significantly higher(p=0.00) , whereas Phosphorus was significantly lower (p =0.03) in preeclamptics than in normal pregnant women Also serum lead was positively correlated with systolic and diastolic blood pressures(p=0.01) in preeclampsia. Preeclamptics have a higher serum lead and lower serum phosphorus levels when compared with normal pregnant women. It appears that increase in serum lead, which parallel decreases in serum phosphorus, may be related to the development of preeclampsia.