Abstract

Background: Hypertension is one of the common medical complications of pregnancy and contributes significantly to maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. It is associated with alteration of hematological profile, of which thrombocytopenia is the most common which may be accompanied by a clinically evident consumptive coagulopathy or may be the sole abnormality seen. White blood cells are positively associated with inflammation. In medicine, neutrophil- to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is used as a marker of subclinical inflammation. An elevated ratio of peripheral neutrophil to lymphocytes has been recognized as a poor prognostic indicator in various cancers. Aims and Objectives: The objectives were to study and compare coagulation profile and NLR in pregnancy-induced hypertensive (PIH) patients with matched controls and to correlate the above parameters in relation to the severity of pregnancy-induced hypertension.
Materials and Methods: Investigations were carried out in 90 PIH patients, aged 20–35 years, and in 90 normal pregnant women who are anthropometrically matched controls. Statistical analysis was done using Student’s t-test and one-way ANOVA test, SPSS software version 20. Result: A significant decline in total platelet count (TPC), increase in prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, bleeding time, and clotting time was seen in PIH as compared to normal pregnancy. NLR is also significantly raised in PIH compared to normal pregnancy. Conclusion: TPC and NLR estimation can be taken as an early and rapid procedure for screening preeclampsia cases at admission followed by serial platelet counts while monitoring coagulation indices.