Figure 3.

Distribution of 7-DHC and CHOL levels in the serum of pregnant women and outlier identification. Levels of free (A) 7-DHC, (B) free CHOL, and (C) 7-DHC/CHOL in pregnant women. Sterol levels are reported as ng/μL of serum in panels (A and B). Each symbol corresponds to an individual sample. Red lines denote the upper 99% mean confidence of interval (CI), which identified 302 samples with elevated 7-DHC levels in LC-MS/MS assessment for the presence of 14 7-DHC-elevating medications. Red-colored symbols correspond to the same six samples in all three panels and denote samples with the highest 7-DHC and 7-DHC/cholesterol levels (A and B). DES and LAN measures are presented in Supporting Information 1. Note that these samples were unremarkable based on their CHOL levels (C), suggesting that CHOL levels are not the best readout of sterol biosynthesis health.