Serum calcium level among normal pregnant and pre-eclamptic women in a sub urban area of Bangladesh.

Pre-eclampsia along with its complications seems to be one of the major causes of maternal morbidity and mortality. Despite numerous studies, the etiology of pre-eclampsia has not yet been fully elucidated. The present study prospectively determines and evaluate whether maternal serum levels of calcium has any association with pre-eclampsia. It was a cross sectional study carried out in the department of Biochemistry, Mymensingh Medical College from July 2009 to June 2010. A total of 76 subjects were selected with the duration of pregnancy from 28th wks to term. Among them 42 were normal pregnant women and 32 were pre-eclamptic, admitted in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. The mean±SD serum calcium of normal pregnant women and that of the pre-eclamptic were 7.62±0.24 and 7.32±0.28mg/dl respectively. There was significant (p<0.001) decrease in serum calcium in subject with pre-eclampsia in comparison to that of the normal pregnancy. So, level of calcium may be significantly decreased in pre-eclampsia.