Research Article

Effect of Gravidity on Atherogenic Indices in Normotensive and Hypertensive 3rd Trimester Pregnant Women

Abstract

The nine-month period during which a woman bears her unborn child is known as the gestation period. It is common practice to divide the total number of weeks or months of pregnancy into three equal parts, or trimesters. Pregnant women who are at risk for cardiovascular disease may be at even greater risk for problems such as hypertension due to changes in several indices, including atherogenic markers. Since the changes in pregnancy rise with each child, it is vital to understand the effects of gravidity on atherogenic indicators in both hypertensive and normotensive women during their third trimester of pregnancy. The study's objective was to compare atherogenic indicators between pregnant women with normal and high blood pressure throughout the final trimester. Rivers State University Teaching Hospital conducted a cross-sectional study with 100 female participants. Women who met the inclusion criteria and gave informed consent were randomly assigned to one of two groups: 50 normotensive pregnant women in their third trimester and 50 hypertensive pregnant women in their third trimester (HPW3T). The women were assigned to each group based on number of child birth; primigravid (first-time mother), multigravid (mother of two or more children), or grand multigravid (mother of more than five children). Participants' blood was drawn via venipuncture while they fasted for fasting lipid profile. We performed quantitative analyses of the atherogenic indices AIP, CR-I, CR-II, AC, and APoB/APoA1. Using an alpha level of 0.05, analysis of variance followed by Tukey's test for multiple comparisons was performed on the collected data. For the normotensive group, there was a significant difference in AIP among the gravidity groups (p0.05). The hypertensive population showed no statistically significant variation. Although most pregnant women are able to keep their blood pressure within normal range throughout their pregnancies, this work showed that the atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) was significantly altered by gravidity in the third trimester.