Pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) affects approximately one out of twenty pregnancies and includes preeclampsia and toxemia. The risk increase with the presence of diabetes, chronic hypertension, multiple gestation, advanced maternal age and African American race. The consequence of PIH are serious and affect both mother and fetus. The earlier PIH occurs the higher the incidence of morbidity to the mother and fetus, even leading to their demise Obesity appears to be another contributing risk factor for PIH and follows the same pattern as the other risk factors. Therefore it will be wise to achieve a more favorable body weight (BW) prior to pregnancy by addressing the underlying medical causes for that.
Obesity
| Hypertension | Class I | Class II | Class III |
| Early Onset | 1.13 | 1.57 | 2.18 |
| Late Onset | 1.71 | 2.60 | 3.93 |
* Adjusted Relative Risk
