Do intrauterine growth restricted fetuses of the hypertensive and normotensive mothers differ from each other?

PURPOSE: To investigate if normotensive and hypertensive patients with intrauterine growth restricted (IUGR) fetuses were different with respect to maternal and fetal characteristics and Doppler flow.

METHODS

The records of patients with IUGR fetuses who had to be delivered before 34th gestational week because of fetal distress were examined. Early Doppler abnormalities were defined as increased umbilical artery resistance and redistribution of blood flow in the middle cerebral artery while late Doppler abnormalities were defined as the absence or reversal of umbilical artery blood flow and Doppler flow changes in venous Doppler. t Test, Chi-square test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for the comparison of data as appropriate. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

Thirty-six patients were hypertensive while 42 were normotensive. Gestational week at admission for hypertensive and normotensive groups (30.8 ± 3.6 vs. 32.3 ± 3.1) (p = 0.057), time to delivery (7.1 ± 12.6 vs. 4.3 ± 9.1 days) (p = 0.267) and gestational week at delivery (31.8 ± 3.1 vs. 32.9 ± 2.9) (p = 0.117) were similar. Birth weight was significantly lower (1242 ± 534 vs. 1516 ± 504 g) (p = 0.02) in the normotensive group. The frequency of having oligohydramnios (64.2 % for normotensive and 44.4 % for hypertensive patients) (p = 0.079) was similar in both groups. Early Doppler abnormalities were more common in hypertensive group (75 vs. 40.5 %) (p = 0.001) while late Doppler abnormalities were more common in normotensive group (25 vs. 59.5 %) (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Birth weight was lower and late Doppler abnormalities were more common in the normotensive group while early Doppler abnormalities were more common in hypertensive group.