Endothelial nitric oxide synthase polymorphism is not associated with placental abruption in Finnish women.

OBJECTIVE

To study whether genetic variability in the gene encoding endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) affects individual susceptibility to the development of placental abruption during pregnancy.

METHODS

One hundred and sixteen pregnant women with placental abruption and 113 healthy controls were genotyped for Glu298Asp polymorphism in the eNOS gene. Chi-square analysis was used to assess the differences in genotype and allele frequencies between the two groups.

RESULTS

A statistically similar allelic distribution of eNOS Glu298Asp polymorphism was observed in the two groups, with the frequency of the variant G allele being 66.8% in the abruption group and 68.1% in the control group (OR 0.94, 95% CI: 0.64-1.39; p = 0.76). The genotype distribution of the eNOS polymorphism was also found to be statistically similar (p = 0.72).

CONCLUSIONS

The observed genotype data in subjects from eastern Finland suggest that the Glu298Asp polymorphism of the eNOS gene does not contribute to placental abruption in this population.