Risk factors for cardiovascular disease ten years after preeclampsia.
OBJECTIVE
Preeclampsia is a gestational disease that occurs mainly among nulliparous women after the 20th week of gestation, and frequently close to delivery. The effects of preeclampsia on women's blood pressure over the long term are still controversial. Patients with recurrent preeclampsia or preeclampsia in the early stages of pregnancy appear to present higher risk of hypertension. The aim of this study was to determine the risk factors for cardiovascular disease among women with preeclampsia 10 years earlier.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study at Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA).


METHODS
Forty women with preeclampsia and 14 normotensive pregnant women followed up 10 or more years earlier at HCPA underwent clinical and laboratory examinations. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to correlate body mass index (BMI) and systolic and diastolic pressures. The risk of developing hypertension was measured using the chi-square test. P < 0.05 was considered significant.


RESULTS
The patients with preeclampsia 10 or more years earlier had significantly higher diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.047), BMI (P = 0.019) and abdominal circumference (P = 0.026). They presented positive correlations between BMI and diastolic blood pressure (0.341; P = 0.031) and between BMI and systolic blood pressure (0.407; P = 0.009).


CONCLUSIONS
The patients with preeclampsia 10 or more years earlier had significantly higher diastolic blood pressure, BMI and abdominal circumference than did the control group. This emphasizes the importance of long-term follow-up assessment for cardiovascular risk factors among patients with preeclampsia.
Medical Sciences program, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Ivete Cristina Teixeira
IC
Canti
Márcia
M
Komlós
Sérgio Hofmeister
SH
Martins-Costa
José Geraldo Lopes
JG
Ramos
Edison
E
Capp
Helena von Eye
Hv
Corleta
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001938:Brazil; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors