Association of consanguinity and maternal variables on the occurrence of preeclampsia

Abstract

Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy involved disorder of women with clinical symptoms of hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation. It results in significant maternal, fetal and neonatal morbidities and mortalities throughout the world. Identification of its risk factors and mechanism are still a major challenge. Pakistan has a multiethnic population with a considerable frequency of consanguinity. The main aim of the study was to observe the association of maternal consanguinity, socio-demographic and biological variables with preeclampsia. A matched case-control study was carried out at Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health (MNCH) Centre in PIMS Islamabad from February 2014 to December 2015. The data were recorded in a structured questionnaire from hospital-reported files and personal interviews of preeclamptic and control subjects belonging to the same socio-demographic and geographic backgrounds. Statistical analyses were carried out by using Chi-square and T-tests. In the analysis, subjects’ age (P =0.04), BMI (P =0.01), family type (P =0.009), literacy (P =0.011), height (P =0.004), blood urea (P<0.0001), spouses’ blood group (P =0.005), and gender of the fetus (P=0.03), were significantly associated with preeclampsia. On the other hand, consanguinity, rural/urban status, province of residence, caste, mother tongue, maternal education, maternal weight, maternal blood group, Rh factor, spouse Rh factor, gravidity, parity, length of marital life, use of multivitamins and use of folic acid were observed not to be associated with preeclampsia. This is the first study of its kind reporting a comprehensive analysis of the factors associated with PE in a large sample size