Abstract :
Backgrounds: Pregnancy is a period of increased demands of metabolism with changes in physiology of
pregnant women and the requirements of oxygen increase in both mother and fetus. In Pregnancy due to
increase demand of oxygen lead to development of oxidative stress within maternal circulation as well as in
the placenta. The objective was to estimate Oxidative stress and antioxidant level in pregnancy as compare
to non pregnant women.
Materials and Methods: An observational cross sectional study was conducted in Obstetrics and
Gynaecology departments at Santosh Medical College and Hospital, Ghaziabad and SMMH Medical
College, Saharanpur, from November 2019 to April 2020. A total sample of 74 cases was taken of which
37 non pregnant and 37 pregnant women were within the age group of 18 - 40 years. 3 ml of venous blood
was collected using a disposal syringe under aseptic condition in a, EDTA vial. 2.0 ml blood (plasma) was
used for estimation of MDA and 1.0 ml blood for estimation of CATALASE.
Results: The assessment of oxidants and antioxidants reveal highly significant increase (p
the levels of Malondialdehyde in Pregnant women when compared to non-Pregnant women and highly
significant decrease (p
non Pregnant women. Karl Pearson’s Coefficient Correlation, showed negative correlation between MDA
and Catalase.
Conclusion: The present study revealed that MDA level is significantly increased antioxidant and Catalase
is significantly decreased in pregnant women as compared to non –pregnant women. Hence, the hypothesis
that oxidative stress occured in pregnancy was strongly supported due to increased concentration of
Malonadialdehyde and decreased concentration of Catalase in pregnant women.
Keyword :
Normal pregnancy, Oxidant, Antioxidants, Serum, MDA, Catalase.