Evaluation of antepartum and postpartum lipid profiles in a Southern African population

Sara Mosima Pheeha; Donald Moshen Tanyanyiwa

Volume : IX, Issue : II, February - 2020

Evaluation of antepartum and postpartum lipid profiles in a Southern African population

Sara Mosima Pheeha, Donald Moshen Tanyanyiwa

Abstract :

Objective: Pregnancy is associated with changes in metabolic processes that result in increased levels of lipids and lipoproteins. It is important to assess if these changes occur at the same rate and percentage across racial groups. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore antepartum and postpartum of lipid profiles in a Southern African population. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Harare. It included 446 normotensive pregnant African women were aged 16 – 41 years. Lipid tests were analysed on the Roche modular platform. Statistical analyses were performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 and level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results: There was a significant difference (p <0.0001) between the antepartum and postpartum total cholesterol (TC), Triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and very low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (VLDL-C). Postpartum TG had a significant difference (p = 0.05) in the inter-trimester comparisons. LDL-C had a significant difference (p = 0.03) in the intra-trimester age comparisons for the second trimester. Conclusion: This is a reasonably large study that demonstrated increased lipids during pregnancy and provided the first insight into the marginal intra-trimester age lipid increases and postpartum lipid concentrations in the Southern African population.