FIB4 score is increased in severe preeclampsia

Abstract Objectives This study aims to investigate how the fibrosis index based on four factors (FIB-4) is altered in preeclampsia and whether the FIB-4 score differs with respect to the severity of preeclampsia and the presence of fetal and maternal adverse outcomes. Methods One hundred and forty-two patients with mild preeclampsia (34.6 %), one hundred and ninety patients who have preeclampsia with severe features (46.2 %), and 79 healthy pregnant controls (19.2 %) were included in the study. Fetal adverse outcomes occurred in 40.1 %, and maternal adverse outcomes only appeared as neurological symptoms in 20.5 % of the preeclampsia patients. Results Healthy controls had significantly lower FIB-4 scores than women with mild preeclampsia, and women with mild preeclampsia had significantly lower FIB-4 scores than women who had preeclampsia with severe features (respectively 0.58±0.29 vs. 0.68±0.44 vs. 1.93±4.92, p=0.003). The FIB-4 scores of preeclampsia patients with neurologic symptoms and preeclampsia patients with fetal adverse events were found to be similar to preeclampsia patients who did not have these problems. In ROC curve analysis, FIB-4 scores ≥0.758 indicated the presence of neurologic symptoms in preeclampsia patients, with a sensitivity of 0.66 and a specificity of 0.66 (p=0.004). Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to establish the FIB-4 scores of preeclampsia patients and determine if FIB-4 scores change with respect to maternal and fetal adverse outcomes. Our findings suggest that FIB-4 might be used to predict pregnancies destined to be complicated with preeclampsia and preeclampsia patients who are more likely to experience maternal and fetal adverse outcomes.