title: Obesity and the risk of toxaemia of pregnancy.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between severe pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (toxaemia) and obesity. We collected sociodemographic, anthropometric, medical and pregnancy outcome data from the hospital records of 248 Israeli women diagnosed with either pregnancy-induced or chronic hypertension, and compared these data to a control group of 236 women. Univariate analysis showed that while there exists a statistically significant positive association between obesity and hypertension (both pregnancy-induced and chronic) obesity presents no added risk to the development of toxaemia. Furthermore, we found a significant decrease in the rate of obesity among primigravid versus multigravid mothers with toxaemia superimposed on pregnancy-induced hypertension. On the other hand, primigravid mothers with PIH were at an increased risk of developing toxaemia as compared to multigravid women. These results suggest that obesity is not a significant factor in the development of toxaemia.
authors.affiliation: Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Fields
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vainder
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Livshits
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Merlob
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sirotta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004461:Eclampsia / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology; D007557:Israel; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000209:etiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011249:Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / Q000209:etiology; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D012307:Risk Factors