End-tidal carbon monoxide measurements in women with pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia

Objective: We sought to compare the end-tidal carbon monoxide breath levels in pregnant women with and without pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia. Study Design: We prospectively performed end-tidal carbon monoxide measurements corrected for ambient carbon monoxide in nonsmoking women during late gestation (>31 weeks). The study group included 22 women with pregnancy-induced hypertension or symptoms of preeclampsia and a control group of 20 normotensive pregnant women. Results: The carbon monoxide measurements corrected for ambient carbon monoxide (mean ± SD) were significantly lower (P < .01) in the hypertensive group than in the control group (1.17 ± 0.35 vs 1.70 ± 0.54 ppm). The study group had a significantly higher number of low (