Evaluation of some biochemical changes and associated metabolic syndrome among pregnant women in Enugu Southeast of Nigeria

Objective: Metabolic syndrome is a global health problem which involves a cluster of conditions that increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Pregnancy induces significant physiological, hormonal and metabolic changes in a woman. The complex of metabolic and hormonal disorders is a risk factor for clinical manifestations of cardiovascular diseases, nephropathy and retinopathy. This study assessed some biochemical changes and associated metabolic syndrome among pregnant women in Enugu, Nigeria. Methods: A total of one hundred and thirty apparently healthy women consisting of seventy pregnant women as test group and sixty non-pregnant women as control group were recruited for this cross sectional study. Anthropometric parameters waist circumference (WC), height, weight, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured and body mass index (BMI) calculated. Five milliliters of fasting blood samples were collected and used for the determination of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and lipid profile (TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, VLDL-C) using enzymatic colorimetric methods. Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) prevalence was estimated using the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) and International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. Results: The results showed a significant (P< 0.05) increase in BMI, WC, SBP, DBP, TG, VLDL-C and a decrease in HDL-C of pregnant women compared to non-pregnant women. Using the NCEP-ATP III criteria, it was found that about twenty-eight (40%) pregnant women had metabolic syndrome and only two (3.33%) non-pregnant woman had metabolic syndrome while the IDF criteria, presented about thirty (42.9%) pregnant women and ten (16.7%) non-pregnant women with metabolic syndrome. Conclusion: This study concludes that pregnancy predisposes women to higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome.