Table 1.
Maternal and fetal characteristics in pre-eclamptic (PE) and control groups separately for early and late pregnancy
| Early pregnancy (10–15 weeks of gestation) |
Late pregnancy (23–41 weeks of gestation) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PE | Control | p | PE | Control | p | |
| n | 46 | 53 | 57 | 14 | ||
| Gestational week at serum sampling | 12 ± 1 (mean ± S.D) | 12 ± 1 | 0.073 | 35 ± 4 | 39 ± 1 | 0.006 |
| Age at delivery, year | 31.4 ± 4.6 | 30.9 ± 4.5 | 0.997a | 31.2 ± 4.5 | 32.0 ± 3.4 | 0.380 |
| Nulliparous (%) | 35 (76.1%) | 23 (43.4%) | 0.001 | 40 (70.2%) | 5 (35.7%) | 0.028 |
| BMI, kg/m2 (self-reported, pre-pregnancy) | 25.7 ± 4.5 | 25.4 ± 2.4 | 0.679 | 25.6 ± 4.4 | 24.0 ± 3.1 | 0.196 |
| Systolic blood pressure at first antenatal visit, mm Hg | 124 ± 15 | 117 ± 9 | 0.010 | 124 ± 15 | 117 ± 8 | 0.067 |
| Diastolic blood pressure at first antenatal visit, mm Hg | 80 ± 11 | 72 ± 8 | < 0.001 | 81 ± 10 | 71 ± 7 | 0.002 |
| Early onset of PE (delivery ≤ 34 + 0 weeks of gestation) | 14 (30.4%) | – | – | 42 (73.7%) | – | – |
| Preterm delivery (≤ 37 + 0 weeks of gestation | 19 (41.3%) | 0 (0.0%) | < 0.001 | 20 (35.1%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.007a |
| Highest systolic blood pressure, mm Hg** | 169 ± 15 | 124 ± 9 | < 0.001a | 169 ± 14 | 125 ± 9 | < 0.001a |
| Highest diastolic blood pressure, mm Hg | 112 ± 12 | 84 ± 6 | < 0.001a | 111 ± 11 | 82 ± 6 | < 0.001a |
| Proteinuria (maximum), g/24 h | 4.6 ± 4.1 | – | – | 4.2 ± 3.8 | – | – |
| Chronic hypertension | 12 (26.1%) | 0 (0.0%) | < 0.001b | 14 (24.6%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.057b |
| Gestational diabetes mellitus | 7 (15.2%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.004b | 11 (19.3%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.106b |
| Pregestational diabetes mellitus | 4 (8.7%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.043b | 5 (8.8%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.575b |
| Mode of delivery | < 0.001 | 0.185 | ||||
| Vaginal | 24 (52.2%) | 47 (88,7%) | 30 (52.6%) | 9 (64.3%) | ||
| Caesarean section | 22 (47.8%) | 6 (11.3%) | 27 (47.4%) | 5 (35.7%) | ||
| Fetal characteristics | ||||||
| Birth weight, g | 2435 ± 1003 | 3627 ± 428 | < 0.001a | 2602 ± 1010 | 3644 ± 467 | < 0.001a |
| Relative birth weight, SD | − 1.3 ± 1.4 | 0.1 ± 0.9 | < 0.001 | − 1.1 ± 1.5 | 0.2 ± 0.9 | 0.002 |
| SGA | 11 (23.9%) | 0 (0.0%) | < 0.001 | 12 (21.1%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.106 |
| Gestational weeks | 36 ± 4 | 40 ± 1.4 | < 0.001a | 36 ± 4 | 39 ± 1 | 0.001a |
| Sex | 0.035 | 0.139 | ||||
| Girl | 28 (60.9%) | 21 (39.6%) | 34 (59.6%) | 5 (35.7%) | ||
| Boy | 18 (39.1%) | 32 (60.4%) | 23 (40.4%) | 9 (64.3%) | ||
Level of significance for bolded values is p < 0.05
Chronic hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mm Hg detected before 20 weeks of gestation. Gestational hypertension was defined as blood pressure ≥ 140/90 without proteinuria
SD birth weight and height converted to standard deviation scores, SGA small-for-gestational age
aNon-parametric test was used
bFisher’s exact test