Obesity: A Risk Factor of Preeclampsia

Background: Obesity is a major epidemic of developed world that is now extending to developing countries and is the risk factor of pre-eclampsia which is the major contributor to maternal and foetal morbidity & mortality. Objective: To determine the frequency of preeclampsia in obese primigravida women visiting the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Outpatient Department of Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Methodology: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Outpatient Department of Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur, Pakistan from January 2018 to December 2018. All the Primigravida women with singleton pregnancy of gestational age ≥ 26 weeks assessed by ultrasound between 20-35 years of age were included in the study by non-probability consecutive method. After obtaining ethical approval from hospital ethical committee and informed written consent from all the study subjects, relevant data were documented in a predefined data sheet and body mass index (BMI) was calculated by using the formula: Weight (kg) / Height2 (m). Women having blood pressure (BP) of 140/90 mmHg or above in third trimester of gestation measured on at least two occasions, 6 hours or more apart accompanied by proteinuria of 300 mg per 24 hours or above in previously normotensive were labelled as preeclampsia and first-time pregnant women having BMI ≥ 30 were taken as obese. Statistical analysis was performed by using computer-based software, Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) for windows version 17.0. Mean and standard deviation was calculated for numerical data like age. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for categorical variables. Chi-square test was performed to find the statistical difference regarding preeclampsia distribution between groups and ‘p’ value <0.05 was considered as a lowest level of significance. Results: Mean age of the respondents in the study was 27.08±3.59 years. Majority of the women were between the ages of 26-30 years (53.30%). The mean gestational age of the respondents was 34.50±4.33 weeks and most of the women had gestational age ≥ 36 weeks (46.70%). Frequency of obesity in pregnancy was 15.4% and frequency of preeclampsia in obese primigravida was 55.3%. Conclusion: It is concluded that frequency of preeclampsia is higher in obese primigravida compared to non-obese primigravida.