Multivitamin supplements taken three months before conception and during the first trimester of pregnancy can significantly reduce the risk of developing preeclampsia, say doctors from the University of Pittsburgh. Appearing in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the study found that women who used multivitamins regularly showed a 45 percent reduction in preeclampsia risk. And the results were even more remarkable for women who were not overweight prior to pregnancy.
"Our data show that women who are not overweight before pregnancy and who used multivitamins at least once a week before conception and in the first three months of pregnancy reduced their risk of preeclampsia by a striking 72 percent compared to those who didn't take a multivitamin during this time period," said researcher Lisa Bodnar. She added that because multivitamins contain many nutrients, it was difficult to know the exact mechanism by which the risk of preeclampsia was reduced.
Preeclampsia affects about 7 percent of first pregnancies and is a leading cause of premature delivery and maternal and fetal death. Signs of preeclampsia include high blood pressure, protein in the urine and swelling of the hands and feet. Untreated, the condition may progress to the far more serious eclampsia, which can be fatal. Infants born to mothers with preeclampsia have a risk of mortality five times greater than those born to women with normal pregnancies. In the U.S. alone, nearly 15 percent of preterm deliveries are a result of preeclampsia.
"Preeclampsia is a potentially devastating condition for mother and baby," said co-researcher James M. Roberts. "It may be that taking a multivitamin prior to conception positively influences embryonic implantation, which is a physiologic process known to be abnormal in preeclampsia."
The researchers are also unsure of the reasons why multivitamin use appears to have no benefit to preeclampsia risk in overweight women. "It may be that typical multivitamins, which contain low nutrient doses, may not be adequate to overcome the metabolic challenges associated with the development of preeclampsia along with being overweight and pregnant," speculated Bodnar.
Source: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
