Placental Weight, Birth Weight and Fetal Outcome in Preeclampsia and Normotensive Pregnancies

Any insult to placenta during the developmental stage affects the placenta weight and birth weight which in turn affects the growth of fetus in-utero. Preeclampsia is the most important underlying maternal condition to complicate pregnancy and probably the main factor in the genesis of IUGR and reduced placental weight. 100 placentae, 25 from normotensive pregnancies (control group) and 75 from pregnancies associated with preeclampsia (study group) were studied for placental weight, birth weight and fetal placental weight ratios. Patients of all ages and parity with period of gestation more than 35 weeks were taken for study. Findings were correlated with fetal outcome. Mean birth weight of newborns and mean placental weight were significantly lower in study group than control group (p <0.001) while fetal-placental ratio were almost constant in both groups and the difference was insignificant (p = 0.8598). Fetal outcome was significantly poor in preeclampsia as compared to normotensive pregnancies (p<.0001). Impaired placental function in preeclampsia is directly related to low placental and birth weights and poor fetal outcome. This information may be useful in patients counseling and hence a useful guide for managing subsequent pregnancies.