Birth Outcomes of Pre-Eclamptic Pregnant Women With Vitamin E Supplementation A Population-Based Study

Liza Brtfai,Ferenc Bnhidy,Andrew E Czeizel

doi:10.2174/1876818001102010054

Abstract

Objectives. To study the efficacy of vitamin E supplementation for the reduction of preterm birth/low birth- weight newborns in pre-eclamptic pregnant women. Design. Comparison of the rate of preterm birth and low birthweight in pre-eclamptic pregnant women with or without vitamin E treatment. Setting. Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance Sys- tem of Congenital Abnormalities, 1980-1996. Population. Newborn infants in Hungarian population. Methods. Medically recorded pre-eclampsia and birth outcomes of pregnant women were evaluated. Main outcome measures. Preterm birth, low birthweight. Results. There was no lower incidence of pre-eclampsia after vitamin E treatment. Pregnant women with pre-eclampsia and without vitamin E treatment had a higher rate of preterm births (10.4% vs. 9.3%) and low birthweight newborns (7.8% vs. 5.6%) than the reference sample of 34,928 pregnant women without pre-eclampsia and without vita- min E treatment. The newborns of 936 pregnant women with pre-eclampsia and without vitamin E treatment had higher rate of preterm birth (10.4% vs. 8.6%; OR with 95% CI: 0.8, 0.7-0.9) than 81 pregnant women with pre-eclampsia but with vitamin E treatment. However, the rate of low birthweight newborns was somewhat but not significantly higher (8.6% vs. 7.8%; OR with 95 CI: 1.1, 0.8-1.4) in pregnant women with pre-eclampsia and with vitamin E treatment. There was very high rate of threatened abortion (45.7% vs. 15.3%) and threatened preterm delivery (27.2% vs. 13.5%) in 81 pre- eclamptic pregnant women with vitamin E treatment compared to the reference group. Conclusions. Vitamin E treatment reduced the rate of preterm birth in pregnant women with pre-eclampsia but not the rate of low birthweight newborns.

Highlights

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a frequent severe complication of pregnancy, and this multisystem disorder of pregnancy is characterized by pregnancy induced hypertension and newonset proteinuria during the second half of pregnancy [1]
Vitamin E treatment (VET) was used for the prevention of pregnant women with recurrent and threatened abortion, in addition with threatened premature labor, but no effect of vitamin E treatment (VET) was demonstrated in some studies [4,5,6], though the beneficial effect of VET for fetal growth was shown [7]
The aim of the study was to estimate the effect of VET in pregnant women with PE for preterm births and low birthweight newborns

Summary

Introduction

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a frequent severe complication of pregnancy, and this multisystem disorder of pregnancy is characterized by pregnancy induced hypertension and newonset proteinuria during the second half of pregnancy [1]. On the one hand PE associates with serious maternal complications such as eclampsia and HELLP syndrome with high maternal mortality [2]. Since delivery is the only cure of PE, there is a higher risk of preterm births up to 15% with an increase in infant mortality and morbidity [3]. Vitamin E treatment (VET) was used for the prevention of pregnant women with recurrent and threatened abortion, in addition with threatened premature labor, but no effect of VET was demonstrated in some studies [4,5,6], though the beneficial effect of VET for fetal growth was shown [7]. A randomized placebo-controlled trial showed that vitamin C and E supplementation associated with a reduction in rate of PE from 17% to 8% in 283 women at high risk of PE [9].

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