Objective: To investigate the changes of urinary fibrinopeptide A (FPA) level in pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) and its clinical significance.
Methods: High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was employed in determination. Urinary FPA was measured in 96 cases of normal pregnancy and 49 cases with PIH.
Results: The urinary FPA levels in mild and moderate PIH groups were significantly higher than that in normal pregnancy (71.65 +/- 18.53 micrograms/L vs 40.17 +/- 20.26 micrograms/L, P < 0.01). The levels of urinary FPA in patients with preeclampsia increased significantly (146.65 +/- 32.53 micrograms/L) when compared with the mild and moderate PIH groups (P < 0.001). The levels of urinary FPA in patients with eclampsia (422.93 +/- 81.46 micrograms/L) were much higher than that in group of preeclampsia (P < 0.001).
Conclusions: It showed that the assay of urinary FPA might be helpful for earlier diagnosis, classification, treatment and judgement of prognosis in PIH.