Maternal body mass index at term does not predict the severity of preeclampsia.
OBJECTIVE
Maternal pre-pregnancy weight is a risk of developing preeclampsia. Whether it is also associated with the disease severity is still elusive. This retrospective cohort was to determine the association between body mass index (BMI) at term and severity of preeclampsia.


METHODS
BMIs on the delivery date of 229 patients were analyzed with various indicators of the disease severity. The corrected BMI (cBMI), calculated by an exclusion of feto-placental unit, was additionally analyzed.


RESULTS
Neither maternal BMI nor cBMI correlated with the disease severity (p = 0.15 and 0.36). Patients who did and did not require MgSO4 do not have different BMI or cBMI (p = 0.12 and 0.23). Neonatal weight from severe disease arm does not differ from those with mild disease (p = 0.51). Counter-intuitively the correlations between birth weight and maternal BMI were stronger in the severe compared to the mild group (p = 0.0 and 0. 03).


CONCLUSIONS
Neither BMI nor cBMI at the time of delivery predict the severity of preeclampsia or the need for seizure prophylaxis. Birth weight of the baby born from preeclamptic mother might be affected by multiple factors.
Wataganara
Tuangsit
T
Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. sitwg@mahidol.ac.th
Boriboonhirunsarn
Dittakarn
D
Titapant
Vitaya
V
Kanokpongsakdi
Sujin
S
Sunsaneevithayakul
Prasert
P
Vantanasiri
Chanchai
C
D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008429:Maternal Welfare; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology