A case-control study of vitamin A level in hydatidiform mole

Hydatidiform mole is an abnormal pregnancy which constitutes a problem in the effort to improve the reproductive health level of women because of its high incidence rate and complications that may arise. Prevention may be perfomed if etiological factors or risk factors of the women with hydatidiform mole have been identified. The aim of this study was to identify those risk factors. One of the risk factor was suspected to be a vitamin A level. This study was a case control study. The cases were 30 patients with hydatidiform mole and the control were pregnant women of equivalent age of 4 years interval and parity interval of 1. The measurement of fasting blood retinol level was done using Neeld and Pearson’s method. The average level of blood retinol of the patients with hydatiform mole was 10, 52 μg/dl, and the average blood retinol of the control patients was 12, 89 μg/dl; statistically it was significantly different. The risk for the incidence of hydatidiform mole in the pregnant women of ≤ 24 years of age with severe deficiency of vitamin A was 6.29 times higher and the risk for hydatidiform mole in the women of ≤ 24 years with nil parity and severe deficiency of vitamin A was as many as 7 times higher than in control patients.