Qualitative analysis
The sensitivity of LDH in predicting preeclampsia was reported in four
articles that were particularly heterogeneous due to the quite
heterogeneous optimal cut-off values that were evaluated; thus,
precluding analysis of results. Specifically, Duan et al reported an
area under the curve (AUC) that reached 0.899 and a sensitivity of
92.5% using a cut-off value of 183.5 U/L
[20]. Similarly, Khalil observed that
LDH could help differentiate severe preeclampsia from healthy controls
as well as patients with proteinuria, gestational hypertension and mild
preeclampsia using a cut-off value of 208 U/L (sensitivity 100%, AUC
71.2%) [21]. On the other hand,
Fazal et al reported that the accuracy of LDH in detecting preeclampsia
was limited (sensitivity 50% at an optimal cut-off of 525 U/L)
[22]; however, their sample size was
particularly small to establish definitive conclusions. Kasraeian et al
used a cut-off of 336 U/L and observed that the specificity was also low
(59%) [23].