Association of Maternal Renal Artery Resistive Index with Serum Uric Acid in Gestational Hypertension

Abstract

Objective: To quantitatively study the correlation between maternal renal artery resistive index (RARI) and levels of serum UA in Pregnancy Induced Hypertension.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Ziauddin Hospital from June-2017 to May-2018.

Materials and Methods: 90 females with PIH were included after ruling out conditions affecting renal artery flow other than PIH. Doppler ultrasound examinations were carried out at 36 weeks’ gestation and maternal RARI and serum UA was noted. Regression analysis and Pearson’s correlation were done to determine the relation of RARI and UA with each other.

Results: A highly significant (p=0.001) moderate (r=0.52) positive correlation between RARI and serum UA was observed.

Conclusion: We demonstrated that as RARI increases, so does the plasma level of UA. This can be directly attributed to decrease in blood flow to the renal arteries in PIH which has an inverse relation to RARI. This is the first study to our knowledge to quantify the relation of serum uric acid to RARI. We conclude that RARI could be a useful non-invasive and cost-effective tool in assessing the severity of PIH.