Monitioring the Trends in Triglyceride (Fat) Levels of Various Stages of Pregnancy in Nigerian Women

Background: In developing countries like Nigeria, with poor socio-economic, early marriage, poor
acceptance of contraception, poor spacing of pregnancies, high fertility rate and poor maternal and
child health indices, leading to poor maternal-child outcome. During pregnancy, there are
physiological changes in TG metabolism which may be related to increased metabolic rate .There is a
need to investigate the pattern of serum lipid changes during pregnancy in Nigeria women as
hyperlipidemia may lead to poor maternal outcome.
Materials and Methods: A total of one hundred and forty (140) subjects between the ages of 20 and
45 years with mean age 29.74 ± 6.5 years of the study population. Group 1: The control comprises of
thirty-five (35) healthy non pregnant subjects with mean age of 26.84 ± 5.2 volunteers of Nigeria
origin. Group 2: The test involved one hundred and five (105) apparently healthy pregnant Nigerian
women sub-divided into three groups; X, Y and Z each made of thirty-five (35) subjects distributed into
1st, 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnancy respectively. The TG assay was analyzed using enzymatic
spectrophotometric method as described by Biosystems.
Results: The result analysis showed a significant increase (p ≤ 0.05) in the TG level during the first
trimester of pregnancy when compared with control as shown in Table 1. There was a significant
increase (p ≤ 0.05) in the TG levels during the second trimester of pregnancy when compared with
that of the control subjects. During the third trimester of pregnancy there was a significant increase in
TG levels when compared with the control subjects.
Conclusion: This work revealed that the most dramatic change in the lipid profile in normal
pregnancy is serum hypertriglyceridemia, which may be as high as two-three folds in the third
trimester over the levels in non pregnant subjects. Since studies in recent past have incriminated
abnormal lipid metabolism during pregnancy in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic, ischemia heart
disease, intrauterine growth disease, intrauterine growth retardation and hypertension. This study
illuminates and brings to understanding the possible mechanism of developing preeclampsia.
Lipid profile can be recommended as part of routine antenatal tests and if possible adopted by the
clinical services department of this institution.
This may reduce or even eliminate complications of hyperlipidemia in pregnancy.