Dyslipidemia in pregnancy may increase risk of preterm birth: Study

A recent study found a significant causal relationship between blood lipid levels and preterm birth which is the leading cause of neonatal mortality throughout the globe. The findings published in the recent issue of European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology highlighted how dyslipidemia contributes to the risk of preterm delivery.

This research extracted data from genome-wide association studies and included participants from the FinnGen database and the UK Biobank. The study included data from a total of 115,082 participants who had their lipid levels measured, along with 8,507 patients who underwent preterm birth. The study focused at single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that strongly associated with blood lipid levels. These SNPs were uncorrelated (R2 < 0.001) and had a significant association (p < 5 × 10–8) with lipid measurements. The research also conducted various sensitivity analyses to account for genetic pleiotropy, heterogeneity, and the directionality of causality to ensure the robustness of the findings.

The results revealed that increased levels of several blood lipids were associated with an elevated risk of preterm birth. Also, increased levels of apolipoprotein B was linked to a 12% higher risk (odds ratio [OR], 1.12; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02–1.23; p = 0.019) and higher levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were associated with an 11% higher risk (OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.00–1.22; p = 0.040).

Other lipids that showed a significant association included non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C), remnant cholesterol and total free cholesterol, where each of these contributed to about an 11% increase in the risk of preterm delivery. The study identified that triglycerides in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) also had a causal relationship with the risk of preterm birth. The results of the  sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of the main findings, with no evidence of horizontal pleiotropy or reverse causal relationships detected.

This study provides strong proof of the detrimental impact of dyslipidemia on preterm birth by emphasizing the role of elevated LDL cholesterol. These findings highlight the importance of monitoring and managing blood lipid levels in pregnant women to potentially reduce the risk of preterm delivery. Overall, the research illuminates the need for further studies to explore potential interventions and treatments that could reduce this risk to improve neonatal outcomes and reduce the global burden of preterm births.

Source:

Zhang, W., Liu, L., Yang, X., Wang, K., Yao, H., & Wang, F. (2024). Dyslipidemia characterized by low density lipoprotein cholesterol and risk of preterm Birth: A Mendelian randomization study. In European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology. Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejogrb.2024.06.035