Purpose: To evaluate the differences in serum ceruloplasmin levels between patients with preeclampsia and healthy controls.
Materials and methods: We searched the Medline (1966-2017), Scopus (2004-2017), Clinicaltrials.gov (2008-2017), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials CENTRAL (1999-2017), and Google Scholar (2004-2017) databases. Meta-analysis was performed with the RevMan 5.3 software.
Results: Fifteen studies were finally included in the present review, with a total number of 1927 women. Maternal serum ceruloplasmin concentration was significantly higher in preeclamptic than in the healthy pregnant women (mean differences (MD): 12.57 mg/dl, 95% CI: [8.81, 16.33]). Ceruloplasmin levels were significantly higher both in mild (MD: 13.8 mg/dl, 95% CI: [2.64, 23.53]) and severe (MD: 21.84 mg/dl, 95% CI: [0.97, 42.71]) preeclampsia, when compared to the control group. The severity of the disease did not significantly affect the levels of the protein (MD: -9.34 mg/dl, 95% CI: [-20.93, 2.26]).
Conclusions: Serum ceruloplasmin may be a useful screening and follow-up tool for the evaluation of pregnant women with an indicative history of developing preeclampsia. Future studies are needed to evaluate the levels of this specific protein throughout the pregnancy course and provide data on its sensitivity and specificity by introducing cut-off values.
Keywords: Ceruloplasmin; hypertension; meta-analysis; preeclampsia; pregnancy.