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Objective: To evaluate the possible association between plasma total homocysteine or other amino acid concentrations and gestational diabetes or glucose intolerance (GI), in normotensive and preeclamptic pregnant women. Study design: Prospective study including 243 pregnant women without previous risk factors. O’Sullivan test (plus oral glucose tolerance test when necessary) was performed, and homocysteine, B vitamins and plasma amino acids (AA) were measured at 24–25 weeks. Homocysteine and other amino acids were also measured in the third trimester. Results: Significant differences were observed in the incidence of preeclampsia in relation to abnormal glucose tolerance (P < 0.012). In normotensive patients, the glucose intolerance group showed significantly lower tHcy (P = 0.021) and increased plasma alanine concentrations in comparison with controls (P = 0.046), although no correlation was observed between both amino acid concentrations. Conclusions: (a) A higher incidence of preeclampsia was observed in abnormal glucose tolerance patients, (b) total homocysteine and alanine were the only individual amino acids whose plasma concentrations varied according to the glucose tolerance classes, and (c) an association between hyperhomocysteinemia and glucose intolerance in our preeclamptic patients could not be demonstrated.

Objectives: (a) To evaluate the predictive value of uterine Doppler velocimetry for pregnancy complications, (b) to study the relationship between abnormal uterine Doppler velocimetry and plasma homocysteine, and (c) to determine whether homocysteine measurement improves the predictive value of uterine Doppler screening. Study design: Prospective study including 94 pregnant women without previous risk factors. Total homocysteine, folate and Vitamin B12 were analysed. Uterine Doppler velocimetry at weeks 24–25 was performed. Results: The presence of any uterine Doppler alteration had a sensitivity of 66.7%, and a specificity of 81.2%, in predicting obstetric complications. The likelihood ratio was 3.6. The positive and negative predictive values were 27.3 and 95.8%, respectively. The global efficiency was 83.0%. The addition of hyperhomocysteinemia to Doppler alterations increased the sensitivity from 66.7 to 77.8%. Conclusions: The addition of homocysteine determination to uterine Doppler evaluation in the second trimester does not usefully improve its predictive value.

Objectives: (a) To establish the reference values for plasma total homocysteine in our pregnant population. (b) To determine the possible association between hyperhomocysteinemia and preeclampsia in our geographical area. Study design: Control–case study with 32 preeclamptic patients and 64 controls without pregnancy complications. Plasma total homocysteine, determined by HPLC (fluorescence detection), was correlated with serum folate and Vitamin B12 (analyzed by competitive protein binding chemiluminescent assay). Statistical analyses: Mann–Whitney, Wilcoxon and Spearman test (SPSS, 10.0). Results: Homocysteine concentrations in the controls were significantly higher while folate was significantly lower in the third trimester of pregnancy when compared with the second (P