Comparison of serum midkine levels between pregnant women with and without pre-eclampsia: A case-control study from a tertiary hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate changes in maternal serum midkine levels in pre-eclampsia. METHODS: This study included 40 pregnant women with pre-eclampsia and 66 healthy pregnant women in the control group. Demographic data, laboratory results, and midkine levels were compared between the groups. RESULTS: The pre-eclampsia and control groups were similar in terms of demographics. The midkine level of pregnant women with pre-eclampsia was significantly higher than that of the controls (0.54 ± 0.23 and 0.31 ± 0.19 ng/mL, respectively, P < 0.001). According to the receiver operating characteristic analysis, the optimal cut-off value of midkine was determined as 0.37 ng/mL, at which it had 75% sensitivity and 74% specificity (area under the curve: 0.815, 95% confidence interval 0.73-0.89, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The serum midkine level was significantly higher in pregnant women with pre-eclampsia. Midkine seems to be associated with complicated inflammatory processes leading to pre-eclampsia. Further study protocols can be planned to investigate the role of midkine in the prediction of pre-eclampsia as a novel marker.