Interleukin-6 and its correlations with maternal characteristics and echocardiographic parameters in pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension and normotensive pregnancy.

Background Pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension are pregnancy-related disorders with major maternal cardiovascular implications later in life. Objectives The aim of this study was to determine interleukin-6 levels in women with pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension and in healthy pregnant controls, and to examine their correlations with characteristics of the women and echocardiographic findings. Methods The ELISA method was used to determine serum interleukin-6 in 36 women with gestational hypertension, 37 women with pre-eclampsia and 50 pregnant controls. The echocardiographic examination was performed according to current recommendations by the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging and the American Society of Echocardiography. Results Mean serum interleukin-6 levels were 2.77 pg/ml in the controls, 5.08 pg/ml in the gestational hypertension group and 8.06 pg/ml in the pre-eclampsia group. A significant difference in these levels was present between the controls and both hypertensive groups, but not between the two hypertensive groups. Higher levels correlated with heart chamber enlargement and worse ventricular function. Conclusion Interleukin-6 levels in gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia were significantly elevated compared to those in healthy pregnancy. Higher levels also corresponded to echocardiographical changes.