Correlation of serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin with acute kidney injury in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

ML Patel,¹ Rekha Sachan,² Radheyshyam Gangwar,³ Pushpalata Sachan,⁴ SM Natu<sup>5

1</sup>Department of Medicine, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India; ²Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India; ³Department of Critical Care, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India; ⁴Department of Physiology, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India; ⁵Department of Pathology, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) remain one of the largest single causes of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality, accounting for 16.1% of maternal deaths in developed countries. The aim of the study was to evaluate acute kidney injury (AKI) in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and to examine the correlation of serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) with acute kidney injury. This prospective case control study was carried out over a period of 1 year. After written, informed consent and ethical clearance, 149 cases of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy were screened, and seven were lost to follow-up. Acute kidney injury was detected in 88 cases and acute renal failure in 30 cases of HDP. Thirty-one healthy pregnant nonhypertensive women were enrolled as controls. Quantitative measurement of serum NGAL levels was done by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay technique using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. As per the Kidney Diseases Improving Global Outcomes International guidelines acute kidney injury network (AKIN), 50 cases (42.37%) of AKI stage I, 38 (32.2%) cases of AKI stage II, and 30 (25.42%) cases of renal failure were detected. Serum NGAL had a positive association with increasing proteinuria. It also had a positive correlation with systolic blood pressure (r~0.36), diastolic blood pressure (r~0.37), and serum creatinine (r~0.4). NGAL was found to be significantly correlated with creatinine in the cases with the value of the correlation coefficient being 0.4. This direct correlation might be a consequence of endothelial dysfunction on which hypertension and proteinuria probably depends.

Keywords: hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, preeclampsia, eclampsia, serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, acute kidney injury