Assessment of endothelial function in pregnant women with preeclampsia and gestational diabetes mellitus by flow-mediated dilation of brachial artery.

Purpose: To compare endothelial function, as assessed by flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in pregnant women with preeclampsia (PE), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and healthy pregnant women.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of eighty women who were selected and divided into three groups: Group A comprising 42 pregnant women with PE, Group B (control) consisting of 19 normotensive pregnant women with no comorbidities and Group C consisting of 19 pregnant women with GDM. The women underwent FMD and the results were compared between groups. The data were obtained from the Center for Fetal Medicine, Hospital das Clínicas, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil (CEMEFE-HC-UFMG) after approval by the Ethics and Research Committee on June 4, 2008 under no CAAE-0280.0.203.000-08.

Results: Nonparametric variance analysis showed no statistically significant difference between the characteristics of the three groups. The comparison between the results of the mean values of brachial artery FMD groups of pregnant women with preeclampsia (FMD = 5.36 ± 4.61 %), gestational diabetes (FMD = 9,18 ± 5.98 %) and pregnant women in the control group (FMD = 17.55 ± 8.35 %) showed that a statistically significant difference was found between groups using the Dunn test. The comparison between groups PE × GDM was not statistically significant. The group consisting of pregnant women with GDM associated with those with PE had significantly lower results for FMD (6.55 ± 5.33 %) than the control group (17.55 ± 8.35 %, p = 0.00).

Conclusions: The group consisting of pregnant women with GDM or PE showed results for FMD significantly lower than the control group, suggesting possible endothelial injury in these patients.