A new metabolic scoring system for analyzing the risk of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between some components of metabolic syndrome (MS) and pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH).

Forty-one patients with PIH (gestational hypertension or preeclampsia) after 32 weeks of gestation were compared with 97 normotensive pregnant women. Metabolic scores (0-4) were created using standard deviations in normotensive cases: mean level + 1SD for BMI (>31 kg/m(2)), mean level + 1SD for triglyceride (>287 mg/dl), mean level + 1SD for fasting serum glucose (>90 mg/dl)) and mean level - 1SD for HDL (<48 mg/dl).

The mean values for BMI (31.6 +/- 5.7 vs. 27.7 +/- 3.6; P < 0.0001), fasting triglyceride (341 +/- 129 vs. 220.7 +/- 67; P < 0.0001) and glucose (87.5 +/- 17.1 vs. 79.6 +/- 10.4; P = 0.0009) were higher in hypertensive group. The proportions of the women with a positive result for each of the components were significantly higher in the group of PIH. The percentage of the cases having 2 (35.2 vs. 8.2%; P = 0.0002) and 3 or more (27 vs. 4.1%; P = 0.0003) components of MS was higher in the hypertensive group and the percentage of the cases with none of these factors was high in the normotensive group (10.8 vs. 56.7%; P < 0.0001).

The presence of multiple components of MS may be a risk factor in the development of PIH. New scoring systems according to the gestational age might be useful in analyzing the risk of PIH.