Urogenital infection in preeclampsia.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the incidence of urinary tract infections and postpartum endometritis were increased in preeclamptic pregnancies.

METHOD: We conducted a retrospective study of 13852 pregnant women, using a perinatal database at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, over the past 5 years. The incidence of urinary tract infections and postpartum endometritis was analyzed using the chi-squared test and logistic regression analysis. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05.

RESULTS

There were 345 (2.5%) mild preeclamptics and 440 (3.2%) severe preeclamptics. The incidence of urinary tract infections and postpartum endometritis in preeclamptic patients was significantly higher than that in non-hypertensive pregnant patients. After controlling for confounding variables, severe preeclampsia was still found to be an independent significant risk factor for both urinary tract infections and postpartum endometritis.

CONCLUSION

Our data show a significant increase in urogenital infection in preeclamptic pregnancy. This may reflect higher rates of underlying renal disease and placental bed abnormalities occurring in preeclampsia.