The Comparison of Lactate Dehydrogenase Levels between Severe Preeclampsia/ Eclampsia and Normotensive Pregnancy

Aims: To determine the difference between lactate dehydrogenase levels in severe preeclampsia/eclampsia and normotensive pregnancy.

Study Design: This study was a case-control study.

Place and Duration of Study: This study conducted in Prof. Dr. R. D. Kandou Manado General Central Hospital and affiliated hospitals in Manado from February 2021 to April 2021.

Methodology: We included 30 normotensive pregnant women and 30 pregnant women with severe preeclampsia/eclampsia with a live singleton pregnancy, and willing to participate in the study. The variables in this study were age, parity status, gestational age, education, occupation, lactate dehydrogenase levels, and neonatal outcome (birthweight, first and fifth minute of APGAR score). Continuous variables were described using the mean and standard deviation or median.

Results: The mean ± SD lactate dehydrogenase levels in the normotensive patient were 339.23±67.09. The severe preeclampsia group had higher lactate dehydrogenase levels with a mean ± SD of 559.40±203.14. Our comparative analysis using the Mann-Whitney test showed a significant difference in lactate dehydrogenase levels between normotensive and severe preeclampsia/eclampsia groups, with p-value=0.000. At the same time, the cut-off point of 424.5 for LDH level was the most optimal with 80.0% sensitivity and 93.3% specificity.

Conclusion: Our study found that the lactate dehydrogenase level in severe preeclampsia/eclampsia was significantly higher than in normotensive pregnancy. Therefore, it can be concluded that severe preeclampsia/eclampsia condition could affect LDH levels.