Purpose: To investigate the relationship between maternal serum homocysteine (Hcy) levels in the late stage of pregnancy and preterm birth. Other relevant biochemical parameters were measured to establish the normal reference interval of serum Hcy in both women in the late stage of pregnancy and neonates.
Materials and methods: The nested case-control study included 300 singleton pregnant women with preterm births between June 2013 and May 2015 and their premature delivered babies as a preterm group. Blood sample within three days before delivery was collected. Simultaneously, 300 healthy pregnant women admitted during the same time, and singleton mature neonates who had gestational week-matched blood sample were age-matched as a control group.
Results: Maternal serum levels of Hcy, total triglycerides, total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), uric acid (UA), free fatty acids (FAA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were all higher in the preterm group than in the control group except high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Serum levels of Hcy, TC, LDL-C, UA, FAA and SOD were higher in prematurely delivered neonates than in the control group except for HDL-C. The body weight of prematurely delivered neonates was negatively correlated with the maternal serum levels of Hcy and UA before delivery.
Conclusions: Higher maternal serum Hcy levels were associated with preterm birth and neonatal body weight. Elevated maternal serum levels of Hcy might serve as a biomarker for preterm birth prediction.
Keywords: Homocysteine; late stage of pregnancy; preterm birth.