Bioelectrical impedance analysis in the clinical management of preeclamptic women with edema

Objective: The aim of this study was to correlate bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) with the clinical course of preeclampsia with edema. Design: 440 pregnant women with apparently normal, single pregnancy participated in this longitudinal study. Anthropometric measurements and BIA were performed during pregnancy and postpartum period. Results: All of the measurements were completed in 333 of the women; 279 of the women had a normal pregnancy (control group). The remaining 54 women developed edema during the third trimester of pregnancy. Of these, 40 women had only edema, and 14 women had edema followed by hypertension and/or proteinuria (preeclampsia group).The BIA index (the height squared divided by resistance) in the control group increased significantly towards late pregnancy, compared to that in early pregnancy. The indexes in the edema group were significantly higher during the third trimester compared to those of the control group at the same gestational week. The index in the preeclampsia group was higher relative to that in the control group. Moreover, a substantial increase in the index preceded the development of edema in the cases in which pregnancy was terminated due to deterioration of preeclampsia. Conclusions: Our results show that BIA is a useful method for monitoring longitudinal changes in total body water in pregnant women, and that BIA may be a powerful predictor of deterioration of preeclampsia preceded by edema.