The Potential Role of Hematological and Biochemical Parameters in Pregnant Women with Viral Infection

Abstract

Objective: Pregnancy is a process in which not only physical changes occur, but also immune responses are modulated. Therefore, pregnant women are more susceptible to viral infections due to these changes during the pregnancy. The present study aimed to evaluate the hematological and biochemical parameters of pregnant women diagnosed with viral infection. Materials and Methods: The study groups consisted of pregnant women diagnosed with cytomegalovirus (CMV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), influenza, Covid-19 and healthy pregnant women as control group. The data of a total of 522 pregnant women were analyzed retrospectively. SPSS 22.0 statistics package program was used for data analysis. Results: Significant differences were found in aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, and neutrophil counts between CMV and control groups. There were also significant differences in AST, ALT, red blood cell distribution width (RDW), neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR), white blood cell (WBC), platelet (PLT), neutrophil and lymphocyte values between hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive and HBsAg negative pregnant groups. NLR and basophil (BASO) % of pregnant women with influenza infection were significantly higher than the control group. In Covid-19 positive pregnant women, AST, ALT, WBC, BASO values and BASO% were found to be significantly different from the control group. In addition, WBC and NLR values in Covid-19 positive pregnant women were found to be significantly lower than the influenza group. Conclusion: All these results suggest that especially the NLR value may have diagnostic and prognostic significance for viral infections in pregnant women. However, studies with larger samples and prospective analyses are needed for stronger evidence.

Keywords

• Viral infection
• neutrophil lymphocyte ratio
• pregnancy
• retrospective

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