A comparative study of physiological and hematological profile of preeclampsia in relation to body mass index

Abstract

Preeclampsia (PE) is a major cause for maternal morbidity and mortality globally. Studies showed that body mass index (BMI) is one of the risk factors of PE. In this study, the BMI and physiological and hematological profile was associated to predict  the severity of preeclampsia, so that proper counseling and antenatal care could be given for good pregnancy outcome. The study was carried out on 100 healthy normotensive pregnant and 100 diagnosed preeclamptic women. Healthy pregnant and PE were categorized into three groups based on BMI, on WHO criteria. BMI group 1 (<25 Kg/m²) considered as normal, group 2 (25 – 30 Kg/m²) as over-weight and group 3 (>30 Kg/m²) obese. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), hemoglobin (Hb), white blood corpuscles (WBC), red blood corpuscles (RBC) and platelets were compared in control and PE groups. Then the respective control groups were compared with PE groups. The prevalence of overweight was more in PE groups when compared to normotensive pregnancy (P=0.004). Statistically, a significant difference was not observed in BMI group1, group 2 and group 3 of control and in PE in relation to SBP, DBP, Hb, WBC, RBC and platelets. But a statistically significant difference was observed when respective control groups were compared with PE (P<0.005). BMI does not have any statistically significant association with SBP, DBP, Hb, WBC, RBC and platelets. BMI could not be considered as a predictor or severity of preeclampsia.