Serum Insulin and Lipid Profile in Normal Pregnant and Pregnancy-Induced Hypertensive Women from North India

High serum insulin and lipoproteins have been reported in pregnancy-induced hypertension. Little is known about the insulin and lipoprotein profile in Indian women. To address this question we compared serum insulin and lipoproteins of women with pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) and normotensive pregnant women. The serum insulin, triglycerides, total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol of 104 women with PIH were compared with 99 control women. Hypertensive women had significantly higher insulin (53.94 +/- 29.58 versus 37.69 +/- 17.39 pmol/L, p=0.0004) and triglyceride (3.27 +/- 1.2 versus 2.66 +/- 0.6, p=0.0001). There was no significant difference in total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol levels. Insulin levels had a positive correlation with systolic blood pressure (r=0.64) and diastolic blood pressure (r=0.55) in women with PIH. These differences persisted even after adjusting for possible confounding variables such as age, body mass index and the period of gestation. We conclude that elevated serum insulin values or insulin resistance may contribute to the pathogenesis of PIH in Indian women.