Antiphospholipid antibodies in eclamptic women.

Our purpose was to determine the prevalence of antiphospholipid antibodies (APA) in eclamptic women as well as the rates of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and fetal death in APA-positive and -negative eclamptic women. Thirty-six eclamptic and 30 healthy pregnant women were enrolled in this study. APA in those groups were determined. The prevalences of IUGR and fetal death were determined in APA-positive and -negative eclamptic women. In the eclamptic group, APA were positive in 9 out of 36 patients (25%), where as only 2 out of 30 controls (6.7%) were positive (p < 0.05). Fetal death was encountered in 4 out of 9 (44.4%) APA-positive eclamptic women; this was a significantly larger proportion than that for APA-negative eclamptic women (1/27; p < 0.01). The rates of IUGR in APA-positive and -negative eclamptic women were not significantly different (p > 0.05). Similar conclusions about our results could also be made, when weakly positive anticardiolipin antibodies were regarded as negative in our study group and controls. Our study suggests that positive levels of APA in eclamptic women increase the risk for intrauterine fetal death.