[The relationship of maternal obesity, excessive weight gain in pregnancy and pre-eclampsia]

The records of 2,671 pregnancies were reviewed regarding maternal obesity, excessive weight gain in pregnancy and pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is significantly more frequent in maternal obesity. Correlation between excessive weight gain in pregnancy and pre-eclampsia is only found for the signs of edema and hypertension. Edema and excessive weight gain in pregnancy are related to each other, since edema frequently induces the excessive weight gain. Overall, maternal obesity perior to pregnancy is much more important in the development of pre-eclampsia than excessive weight gain during pregnancy.