Title: Preeclampsia. A nested, case-control study of risk factors and their interactions.

Authors: Mittendorf, R; Lain, K Y; Williams, M A; Walker, C K

Published In J Reprod Med, (1996 Jul)

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To study the risk factors for preeclampsia and their interactions. STUDY DESIGN: We used a nested, case-control study design to analyze data collected in the Delivery Interview Program, 1977-1980, Boston Hospital for Women (now known as the Brigham and Women's Hospital), Boston. Cases (n = 386) of obstetrician-diagnosed preeclampsia were compared with randomly selected controls (n = 2,355). Using multiple logistic regression, we derived maximum likelihood estimates of adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: The following risk factors were statistically significantly associated with preeclampsia: urinary tract infection (UTI) during pregnancy (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1-2.5), primiparity (OR 3.8, 95% CI 2.8-5.2), black race (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-1.9), less than a high school education (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1-3.6), exposure to diethylstilbestrol in utero (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.2-2.4), body mass index (kg/m2) > 30 (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.6-4.4) and cigarette smoking (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.5-0.8). When evaluating interactions between variables, we found that primiparas who had UTI during pregnancy were five times more likely (OR 5.3, 95% CI 2.9-9.7) to have preeclampsia than were primiparas who did not have UTI during pregnancy. CONCLUSION: It is possible that the preeclampsia associated with some of the risk factors we identified could be modified by the use of prophylactic drugs or other interventions. The primipara with a UTI would be a most likely beneficiary.

PubMed ID: 8829061

MeSH Terms: No MeSH terms associated with this publication