Pregnancy With Obesity -A Risk Factor For Pih

Objective: to compare the frequency of pregnancy induced hypertension (pih) between obese and non-obese women. study design: comparative study place and duration of study: antenatal clinic and obstetrics ward of abbasi shaheed hospital,karachi from 1st january 2008 to 30th june 2008. method: a total of two hundred gravid women were selected by non-probability purposive sampling. inclusion criteria were pregnant women with singleton pregnancy and gestational age from 24 to 40 weeks. two groups were formed having hundred women each. group a formed of non-obese (b.m.i<30) and group b of obese (b.m.i>30). blood pressure was recorded with mercury sphygmomanometer and woman having diastolic pressure of >90-mmhg or systolic pressure of >140-mmhg,two readings 4 hours apart were diagnosed as pih. frequency and percentage were computed for categorical variables like age groups,gravida,family history,patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension. chi-square test was used to compare proportion of patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension between obese and nonobese women. mean with standard deviation,95% confidence interval of mean were also computed for quantitative variables like age,parity,gestational age,height,weight,bmi,systolic and diastolic blood pressure by applying t-test to compare mean difference between obese and non-obese. results: the frequency of pih was found to be higher in obese women as compared to nonobese patients. the overall pih was 67 out of 200 (33.5%). pih was present in 41% of obese women and in 26% of non-obese women. p-value=0.025 indicate that pregnancy induced hypertension was two times more likely in obese women than non-obese women (or= 1.98,95% ci= 1.09 to 3.59). conclusion: the results of this study indicate that frequency of pih is higher in patients belonging to group b who were obese.