Waist to hip circumference ratio as a significant predictor of preeclampsia, irrespective of overall adiposity.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether abnormal body fat distribution is a significant predictor of the development of preeclampsia, irrespective of overall adiposity.


METHODS
Twenty-six women with preeclampsia and 198 control women were enrolled. Waist to hip circumference ratio (WHR), body weight (BW), and body mass index (BMI, wt/ht2) were measured early in pregnancy (< 9 weeks of gestational age). Age, height, parity, tobacco usage, education period, gestational duration, and weight gain during pregnancy were also recorded for each subject.


RESULTS
WHR, BMI, and BW early in pregnancy were significantly higher in the preeclampsia group (p < 0.0001). WHR, BMI, and BW positively correlated with the development of preeclampsia on univariate regression analysis (Standardized regression coefficient = 0.410, 0.387, and 0.363, respectively, p < 0.0001). On stepwise multiple regression analysis, WHR still correlated with the development of preeclampsia irrespective of BMI and BW. When the WHR predictive of the development of preeclampsia was set at 0.9, the sensitivity was 46.2% (12/26), which was significantly better than that of 25 of BMI (19.2%, 5/26; p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Higher WHR is a significant predictor of the development of preeclampsia. This relation is irrespective of overall adiposity.
Yamamoto
S
S
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.
Douchi
T
T
Yoshimitsu
N
N
Nakae
M
M
Nagata
Y
Y
D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000328:Adult; D001824:Body Constitution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity