Does Excessive Gestational Weight Gain Contribute to Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is the leading cause of both maternal and infant mortality and morbidity worldwide. It is a disorder of pregnancy characterized by hypertension and high levels of protein in the urine. Preeclampsia has multifactorial determinants, one of which is excessive gestational weight gain. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between weight gain during pregnancy and the incidence of preeclampsia among patients at Panembahan Senopati Bantul Hospital, D.I.Y. in 2014. The assessment of excessive weight gain during pregnancy was based on the weight gain recommendations given by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). This study was conducted using a case-control design. Based on patient medical records, subjects were included if the length of gestation was greater than or equal to 20 weeks, and were excluded if it was the mother's first pregnancy, the mother was less than 20 years old, or the gestational weight gain was less than the IOM recommendation. After a process ofrandom selection, there were 55 subjects in the case group that met the inclusion criteria. The case to control ratio was 1:1; thus there were also 55 subjects in the control group after random selection.The case and control groups were selected from the same hospital. Data analysis was conducted using a Chi-Square test. The results of the study showed that 63.6% of mothers with preeclampsia exhibited excessive gestational weight gain,while 16.4% of those without preeclampsia exhibited excessive gestational weight gain (p value << 0.05, 95% CI: 3.63-22.06 and OR: 8.94). The results confirmed that excessive weght gain during pregnancy increases the incidence of preeclampsia.