[Does hypertension have fewer complications in pregnancy in obese patients?].

In order to study the relationships between hypertension, obesity and perinatal morbidity and mortality, we have studied a group of 264 women included in a cooperative prospective study with respect to obesity arbitrarily defined as a body mass index greater than or equal to 27 kg/m2. The obese and normal-weight groups comprised respectively 55 and 209 women of similar age (29.1 +/- 5.5 vs 30.2 +/- 5.3 years, NS). Obese women were less often primiparous than women with a normal weight (29.1 vs 50.2 p. 100, p less than 0.01). Hypertension before pregnancy was similarly frequent in both groups (41.8 vs 31.6 p. 100). Hypertension begun sooner during the pregnancy in the obese than in the normal group (17.1 +/- 11 vs 22 +/- 11 weeks of amenorrhea, p less than 0.01), the first abnormal blood pressure being comparable in both groups (156 +/- 15/96 +/- 14 vs 152 +/- 15/95 +/- 10 mmHg, NS). Indicators of perinatal risk were less often observed in the obese group: hypertension begins less often during the second trimester of the pregnancy (7.4 vs 21.7 p. 100, p less than 0.05), proteinuria greater than or equal to 2+ is more rare (13.0 vs 25.1 p. 100, p = 0.07), plasma urates are lower (maximum recorded value: 272 +/- 63 vs 322 +/- 96 mumol/l, p less than 0.001). No perinatal death occured in the obese group, as compared with 15 in the normal group (p less than 0.05). The weight of surviving babies was higher in the obese than in the normal group (3,294 +/- 596 vs 2,947 +/- 702 g, p less than 0.001), despite a comparable gestational age (38.3 +/- 2.3 vs 38.9 +/- 1.8 weeks, NS).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)