Maternal folate deficiency and pregnancy wastage: III pregnancy-induced hypertension

Evaluating the alleged relationship between folic acid deficiency and gestational hypertension, the authors studied 101 women with pre-eclampsia and 17 with eclampsia. Three different tests known to be diagnostic of folic acid deficiency—plasma folate activity, extent of neutrophil Iobation, and marrow erythropoiesĩs —were applied to the hypertensive gravidas as well as to 52 clinically normal nulliparas during late pregnancy and to 29 pregnant or parturient women with overt anemia responsive to folic acid. None of the 3 tests showed a relationship between folic acid deficiency and preg-nancy-induced hypertension.