NEONATAL OUTCOME AFTER PRETERM DELIVERY FOR PREECLAMPSIA

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine whether maternal preeclampsia per se has a beneficial effect on neonatal outcome after delivery befo re 35 weeks. STUDY DESIGN: A matched cohort study design was used. Two hundred twenty-three infants of strictly defined preeclamptic women w ere matched for gestational age, race, gender, and mode of delivery wi th infants of normotensive women with preterm labor and delivery. Preg nancies with multiple gestation, premature rupture of membranes, known fetal anomalies, diabetes, or maternal medical disease were excluded. Information was obtained by review of maternal and neonatal charts. P aired categoric and continuous data were compared by McNemar's test an d the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, respectively. RESULTS: There was no d ifference in the incidence of neonatal death (4.5% vs 4.5%, p = 0.82), respiratory distress syndrome (22.0% vs 22.0%, p = 0.88), grades 3 an d 4 intraventricular hemorrhage (2.2% vs 2.2%, p = 0.72), grades 2 and 3 necrotizing enterocolitis (5.8% vs 4.0%, p = 0.48), and culture-pro ved sepsis (9.0% vs 9.0%, p = 0.85). Results were similar when analysi s was limited to infants born at less than or equal to 32 weeks, infan ts born to mothers with severe preeclampsia, and infants with intraute rine growth restriction. CONCLUSION: Maternal preeclampsia per se does not have a beneficial effect on the postnatal course of infants born at 24 to 35 weeks' gestation.