Calciuria and preeclampsia: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to compare calciuria of preeclamptic cases to normotensive controls among pregnant women hospitalized in the French West Indies obstetrics department.

STUDY DESIGN

This case-control study included 47 preeclamptic women and 50 controls. The main outcome was 24h urinary calcium excretion rate. Serum levels of creatinine, calcium and uric acid were also analyzed. A logistic regression analysis has been performed to investigate the relationship between hypocalciuria and preeclampsia after having taken into account prognostic preeclampsia factors and pertinent clinical criteria.

RESULTS

Women with preeclampsia had significantly lower calciuria than normotensive patients (1.5 mmol/24h+/-1.0 versus 6.0 mmol/24h+/-4.2, p=0.0001). After taking into account gestational age at hospitalization, body mass index and nulliparity, hypocalciuria was significantly associated with preeclampsia (ORa=21.74; 95% CI, 6.9-66.7). The diagnosis value of a calciuria less than 2.1 mmol/24h is interesting because of its negative predictive value (97%), but its positive predictive value is weak (42%).

CONCLUSION

In our population, preeclamptic women had a calciuria significantly lower than controls.