Objective To analyze the change of serum vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels in pregnant women with severe preeclampsia (PE) complicated with fetal growth restriction (FGR) and its correlation with pregnancy outcome.

Methods A total of 54 patients with severe PE were selected and divided into severe PE complicated with FGR group (group A, n = 24) and simple severe PE group (group B, n = 30) according to whether they were complicated with FGR, and 35 normal pregnant women in the same period were selected as control group (group C). The levels of serum VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and TNF-α in three groups were detected, the pregnancy outcome of each group was recorded, and the correlation between VCAM-1, ICAM-1, TNF-αlevels and pregnancy outcome was analyzed in patients with severe PE complicated with FGR.

Results The serum VCAM-1, ICAM-1, TNF-α levels of pregnant women in group A and group B were higher than those in group C (P ＜ 0.05), and the levels of pregnant women in group A were higher than those in group B (P ＜ 0.05). The incidence of premature delivery and cesarean section in group A and group B were higher than those in group C (P ＜ 0.05), and the hospitalization time in group A and group B was longer than that in group C (P ＜ 0.05). The increase rate of serum VCAM-1, ICAM-1, TNF-α in the adverse outcome group of severe PE complicated with FGR patients was significantly higher than that in the good outcome group (P ＜ 0.01). Spearman correlation analysis showed that serum VCAM-1, ICAM-1, TNF-α levels were positively correlated with the adverse pregnancy outcome of pregnant women with severe PE complicated with FGR (r = 0.513, 0.711, 0.699, P ＜ 0.05 to P ＜ 0.01).

Conclusions The serum VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and TNF-α levels of pregnant women with severe PE complicated with FGR are significantly increased, which is related to the adverse pregnancy outcome.