Serum uric acid as a marker of pregnancy-induced hypertension.

A prospective longitudinal study was conducted, looking at the changes in serum uric acid during pregnancy in women who were normotensive at initial presentation. In our sample of 78 women having a total of 88 singleton pregnancies, 13 developed pregnancy-induced hypertension during labour only, whilst a further 6 developed hypertension during pregnancy. Women who developed hypertension had significantly higher uric acid levels than women who remained normotensive throughout. However, there was an appreciable overlap between the groups. Women with essential hypertension showed similar changes. We conclude that the serum uric acid level is an unreliable indicator of developing hypertension in the individual woman. However, a rapidly rising uric acid level should be viewed with caution.