The Relationship of Uterine Artery Doppler Velocimetry Findings and Hemoglobin Concentration with Pregnancy Outcomes in Pre-eclampsia

Epidemiologic studies have shown the relationship of maternal hemoglobin level and abnormal findings in uterine Doppler sonography with pregnancy- related complications. In this study, we evaluated the relationship of uterine artery Doppler velocimetry findings and hemoglobin level with the outcomes of pregnancy in women with preeclampsia and healthy women.
In this prospective study performed from September 2013 to September 2014, 50 patients with Preeclampsia in the third trimester (more than 28 weeks) referred to Afzalipour Hospital, Kerman/ Iran and 50 healthy pregnant women who attended the perinatology clinic for prenatal care, were randomly selected. The results of uterine artery Doppler, hemoglobin concentration and outcome of pregnancy were compared between the two groups.
Twenty nine patients (51%) with preeclampsia and 17 patients (34%) in the control group had abnormal Doppler findings. In both groups, birth weight was lower in women with abnormal Dopller findings compared to the women who had normal sonography findings (p=0.024 and p=0.008, respectively); furthermore, in both groups, gestational age at birth time was lower in women with abnormal sonography findings (p=0.044 and p=0.012, respectively). The average hemoglobin concentration was not statistically different between the two groups and abnormal Doppler findings showed no significant relationship with the mean concentration of hemoglobin in none of the two groups.
This study showed that abnormal findings in Doppler of the uterine artery are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes such as low birth weight and premature births and the coexistence of preeclampsia is associated with worse pregnancy outcomes.