The relationship between body mass index and preeclampsia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

One of the causes of maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity is pregnancy-induced hypertension, the most common form of which is preeclampsia that causes many complications for mother and fetus.

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and preeclampsia in Iran.

Using valid keywords in the SID database, PubMed, Scopus,data obtained from all the articles, which were reviewed in Iran between 2000 and 2016, were combined using the meta-analysis method (random-effects model) and analyzed using STATA version 11.1.

A total number of 5,946 samples were enrolled in 16 studies with the mean BMI values of 25.13, 27.42, and 26.33 kg /m2 in the healthy, mild, and severe preeclamptic groups, respectively.

The results of this study revealed that there is a significant relationship between BMI and the risk of preeclampsia, so it can be said that BMI may be one of the ways to diagnose preeclampsia.