Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components in normal and complicated pregnancies.
Setting: university hospital, tertiary referral centre.
Subjects: 90 pregnant women in four groups: 20 women with preeclampsia, 20 women with gestational hypertension, 30 women with late-onset gestational diabetes and 20 healthy pregnant women as a control group.
Intervention: peripheral insulin resistance was measured by using the insulin tolerance test. Glucose, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure and body mass index were analysed. Comparisons were done by Chi-squared test, one-way analysis of variance and the Bonferroni's test. Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was calculated by adapting both the WHO and the NCEP definitions of the metabolic syndrome to pregnancy.
Results: There were no cases of metabolic syndrome in the control group according to any of the adapted definitions. The prevalence of this syndrome was 3.3% and 10% in the late-onset gestational diabetes group, 35% and 20% in the gestational hypertension group and 30% and 30% in the preeclampsia group for the WHO and the NCEP definitions, respectively.
Conclusions: Metabolic syndrome is present in about one-third of women with pregnancy-induced hypertension but only in 10% of women with late-onset gestational diabetes.