Possible Association of Body‐Fat Distribution with Preeclampsia

Objective: To investigate whether preeclampsia is associated with body-fat distribution. Methods: Twenty-two patients with preeclampsia (mean age: 31.9 ± 6.0 years) and 126 controls without preeclampsia (mean age: 30.9 ± 5.2 years) were enrolled in this study. We compared baseline characteristics and 4 body-fat indices measured by DEXA on Day 5 postpartum. The possible correlation between the variables and the development of preeclampsia was evaluated by multivariate analysis. Results: The body-fat ratio, the upper-half body-fat amount, upper-half-body body-fat amount ratio, and upper-/lower-half-body body-fat amounts ratio on Day 5 postpartum were significantly higher in the preeclampsia group. However, the upper-/lower-half-body body-fat amount ratio was best correlated with preeclampsia among variables in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Upper-body-fat distribution might be associated with the development of preeclampsia.