Role of chronic kidney disease and risk factors in preeclampsia

Our goal was to identify what impact chronic kidney disease (CKD) and its associated risk factors, such as body mass index (BMI), diabetes and hypertension, have on preeclampsia and other adverse pregnancy outcomes in the CKD population.

This was a population-based cohort study of women with CKD who had a pregnancy from 2010 to 2022 (n = 95). At the time of the woman's pregnancy, data was collected on demographics, clinical measures, BMI, CKD etiology and other renal parameters. Outcomes included preeclampsia, pre-term delivery, and low birth weight.

Pre-pregnancy BMI increased over time in patients with CKD, with a median (interquartile range) BMI of 25 (22-29) prior to 2016 and 29 (25-34) after 2016 (p = 0.01). There were significant trends of increasing age at delivery and decreasing pre-pregnancy estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) by delivery year. Preeclampsia affected nearly half of pregnancies in this cohort. In multivariate analyses, BMI and chronic hypertension did not impact the odds of preeclampsia, preterm delivery or low birth weight, though a CKD etiology of diabetes (19/20 with type I diabetes), was associated with a significant increase in preeclampsia risk (odds ratio (OR) 7.41 (95 % CI 2.1-26.1)). Higher pre-pregnancy eGFR was associated with a lower odds of preterm delivery (OR 0.81 (95 % CI 0.67-0.98)) per 10 ml/min/1.73 m²).

Pre-pregnancy BMI significantly increased over time, similar to the general population. While preeclampsia was common in CKD patients, outcomes were associated with eGFR and CKD etiology as opposed to BMI and chronic hypertension.