Purpose: To assess maternal leptin levels as a marker for preeclampsia (PE) and to explore the possibility of leptin being a marker of severity of preeclampsia.
Participants and methods: Comparative prospective study was conducted among a total of 72 pregnant women at 28-38 weeks of gestation. They were divided into two groups (control and study) according to the absence or presence of clinical parameters of preeclampsia. Leptin was measured for both groups at the time of presentation, once weekly and at the termination of pregnancy.
Results: Leptin levels were found to be significantly higher among all preeclampsia patients when compared to the control group; whether at admission or at the time of delivery. Mean serum leptin level at admission in control group was 9.8 ng/ml versus 10.9 ng/ml in mild cases and 17.6 ng/ml in severe cases. At the time of delivery, mean serum leptin in control group decreased to 4.7 ng/ml while in preeclampsia patients it increased up to 22 ng/ml in mild cases and 42.6 ng/ml in severe cases. ROC curve analysis has shown that a cut off value >13.7 ng/ml can be used to detect presence of preeclampsia with a sensitivity of 91% and specificity 100% while a cut off value >22.5 ng/ml can be used to detect severity of preeclampsia with a sensitivity of 85% and specificity 100%.
Conclusion: Maternal serum leptin is significantly elevated in preeclampsia, also it can be used as a marker for the presence of preeclampsia and to differentiate patients with mild preeclampsia from those with severe disease.