Angiogenic markers and maternal echocardiographic indices in women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

Objective: The maternal cardiovascular system of women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) can be impaired, with higher rates of left ventricular (LV) remodeling and diastolic dysfunction compared to those with normotensive pregnancy. The primary objective of this prospective study was to correlate cardiac indices obtained by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and circulating angiogenic markers, such as soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) and placental growth factor (PlGF). Methods: In this study, 95 women with a pregnancy complicated by HDP and a group of 25 with an uncomplicated pregnancy at term underwent TTE and blood tests to measure sFlt-1 and PlGF during the peripartum period (before delivery or within a week of giving birth). Spearman's rank correlation was used to derive correlation coefficients between biomarkers and cardiac indices in the HDP and control populations. Results: The HDP group included 61 (64.2%) pre-eclamptic patients and, among them, 42 (68.9%) delivered before 37 weeks' gestation. Twelve women with HDP (12.6%) underwent blood sampling and TTE after delivery, and, as they showed significantly lower levels of angiogenic markers, they were excluded from the analysis. There was a correlation between sFlt-1 and LV mass index (LVMI) (r = 0.246; P = 0.026) and early diastolic mitral inflow velocity (E) and early diastolic mitral annular velocity (e′) ratio (r = 0.272; P = 0.014) in the HDP group (n = 83), while in the controls, sFlt-1 showed a correlation with relative wall thickness (r = 0.409; P = 0.043), lateral e′ (r = −0.562; P = 0.004) and E/e′ ratio (r = 0.417; P = 0.042). PlGF correlated with LVMI (r = −0.238; P = 0.031) in HDP patients and with lateral e′ (r = 0.466; P = 0.022) in controls. sFlt-1/PlGF ratio correlated with lateral e′ (r = −0.568; P = 0.004) and E/e′ ratio (r = 0.428; P = 0.037) in controls and with LVMI (r = 0.252; P = 0.022) and E/e′ ratio (r = 0.269; P = 0.014) in HDP. Conclusions: Although the current data are not able to infer causality, they confirm the intimate relationship between the maternal cardiovascular system and angiogenic markers that are used both to diagnose and indicate the severity of HDP.