Original article
Joint Effect of Obesity and Teenage Pregnancy on the Risk of Preeclampsia: A Population-Based Study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.06.006Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

To determine the joint effect of young maternal age and obesity status on the risk of preeclampsia and eclampsia among a large cohort of singleton pregnancies.

Methods

Data were obtained from birth cohort files recorded in the state of Florida during the years 2004–2007. The study sample consisted of mothers aged 13–24 (n = 290,807), divided into four obesity categories on the basis of prepregnancy body mass index (BMI): nonobese (BMI < 30), Class I obese (30.0 ≤ BMI ≥ 34.9), Class II obese (35.0 ≤ BMI ≥ 39.9), and extreme obesity (BMI ≥ 40). Nonobese mothers (BMI < 30) between the ages of 20 and 24 years were the reference group. Logistic regression models were generated to adjust for the association between preeclampsia, obesity, and maternal age with sociodemographic variables and pregnancy complications as covariates.

Results

The overall prevalence of preeclampsia in the study population was 5.0%. The risk of preeclampsia and eclampsia increased significantly with increasing BMI and decreasing age. Extremely obese teenagers were almost four times as likely to develop preeclampsia and eclampsia compared with nonobese women aged 20–24 years (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 3.79 [3.15–4.55]). Whereas obesity elevated the risk for preeclampsia and eclampsia among all women in the study, teenagers were most at risk because of the combined effects of young age and obesity.

Conclusion

Effective obesity prevention strategies should continue to be advocated for all teenagers, in addition to innovative approaches to teenage pregnancy prevention.

Section snippets

Methods

The data used in this study were obtained from birth cohort files recorded in the state of Florida during the years 2004–2007. For the purposes of analysis, the data was restricted to include only singleton births, women <25 years of age, deliveries that occurred between 20 and 44 weeks of gestation, and women who were non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and Hispanic.

Records were excluded if they were missing maternal prepregnancy BMI or information regarding preeclampsia or eclampsia.

Results

The overall prevalence of obesity in the study population was 17.5%. Further classification into age groups revealed that 7.6% of women ≤15 years old, 9.4% of those 16–17 years old, 13.7% of those 18–19 years old, and 19.8% of those 20–24 years old were obese (BMI ≥ 30), demonstrating a trend of increasing obesity with age (p for trend <.0001).

Table 1 compares the frequency of selected socio-demographic characteristics between women <20 years old and women 20–24. Women <20 years old represented

Discussion

In this retrospective cohort study of a large sample of mothers residing in the state of Florida, we report a positive dose–response relationship between prepregnancy BMI and risk of preeclampsia and eclampsia. This finding is consistent with prior studies [3], [4], [5], [6], [19], [20], [21] and is in agreement with our first two hypotheses at the beginning of this article. The exact pathway by which maternal obesity predisposes to preeclampsia and eclampsia is not completely understood [22],

Acknowledgments

This study was partly funded by a grant from the Kellogg Foundation (PO126278) (to H.S.). The funding agency did not play any role in any aspect of the study. We thank the Florida Department of Health for providing the data files used in this study.

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