Risk Factors of Preeclampsia among Pregnant Women in Khorramabad (West of Iran)

Background: Preeclampsia occurs in 2-10% of pregnancies, worldwide, and is characterized as a combination of hypertension and proteinuria. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the risk factors associated with the incidence of preeclampsia in the west of Iran and associated factors. Methods: This is a cross sectional study that was performed on 740 pregnant women between 2014-2017, who were referred to different health care centers of Khorramabad. The data was collected from these centers and a questionnaire was filled for every woman that included age, height, gender of the neonate, number of pregnancies, multiparity, season of the pregnancy, birth weight, mothers' body mass index (BMI) before delivery, smoking history and diagnosis of preeclampsia. The data obtained was statistically analyzed using SPSS software. Results: Of the 760 subjects included, 1.1% (8 cases) were reported to be presented with preeclampsia. We found a significant difference between non pre-eclamptic and pre-eclamptic patients in terms of BMI (p=0.006), number of pregnancies (p<0.05), maternal age (p<0.05) and weight (p=0.004). With an increase in BMI and the number of pregnancies, the risk of preeclampsia was elevated. Pre-eclamptic mothers had higher body weight than non-pre-eclamptic ones (75.9 kg vs. 65.6 kg) and the prevalence of preeclampsia increased with age. Conclusion: The prevalence of preeclampsia was seen to be positively associated with higher BMI, pregnancy rate, mother weight and age are associated with higher prevalence of preeclampsia.