Objective To study risk factors for pre-eclampsia in a large cohort of Latin American and Caribbean Design Retrospective cross-sectional study from the Perinatal Information System, the database of the Setting Latin America and the Caribbean, 1985Caribbean, -1997 Population 878,680 pregnancies at 700 hospitals; of these 42,530 were complicated by pre-eclampsia and 1872 by eclampsia.Main outcome measures Crude and adjusted relative risks (RR) of risk factors for pre-eclampsia. Adjusted relative risks were obtained after adjustment for potential confounding factors through multiple logistic regression models based on the method of generalised estimating equations.Results The following risk factors were significantly associated with increased risk of pre-eclampsia: nulliparity (RR 2-38; 95% CI 2.28-2-49); multiple pregnancy (RR 2.10; 95% CI 26.0), the RR estimates were 1-57 (95% CI 1.49-1.64) and 2.81 95% CI 2.69-2.94), respectively, for overweight women (pre-pregnancy BMI = 26.1 to 29.0) and obese women (pre-pregnancy BMI > 29.0). Cigarette smoking during pregnancy and a pre-pregnancy BMI < 19.8 were significant protective factors against the development of preeclampsia. The pattern of risk factors among nulliparous and multiparous women was quite similar.Risk factors for pre-eclampsia observed among Latin American and Caribbean women are similar to those found among North American and European women.women.Latin American Center for Perinatology and Human Development, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Conclusions