Diverse associations observed between pregnancy complications and RBC or plasma folates determined by an in-house developed LC-MS/MS method

Background As folates are essential for embryonic development and growth, it is necessary to accurately determine the levels of folates in plasma and red blood cells (RBCs) for clinical intervention. The aims of this study were to develop and validate a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for quantitation of folates in plasma and RBCs and to examine the association between plasma and RBC folate concentrations and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), gestational hypertension (GH) and preeclampsia (PE).