Objective: To estimate gestational age-specific risks of fetal death in pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia.
Methods: Population-based cohort study comprising all singleton births (N=554,333) without preexisting chronic hypertension recorded in the Norwegian Medical Birth Registry from 1999 to 2008. Additional data come from a subset of preeclamptic pregnancies enrolled in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study with available medical records (n=3,037). The risk of fetal death, expressed per 1,000 fetuses exposed to preeclampsia, was calculated using a life table approach.
Results: Preeclampsia was recorded in 3.8% (n=21,020) of all pregnancies. Risk of stillbirth was 3.6 per 1,000 overall and 5.2 per 1,000 among pregnancies with preeclampsia (relative risk 1.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20-1.76). However, relative risk of stillbirth was markedly elevated with preeclampsia in early pregnancy. At 26 weeks of gestation, there were 11.6 stillbirths per 1,000 pregnancies with preeclampsia compared with 0.1 stillbirths per 1,000 pregnancies without (relative risk 86, 95% CI 46-142). Fetal risk with preeclampsia declined as pregnancy advanced, but at 34 weeks of gestation remained more than sevenfold higher than pregnancies without preeclampsia.
Conclusion: For clinical purposes, the fetal risk of death associated with preeclampsia begins when preeclampsia becomes clinically apparent. Using a method that takes into account the clinical diagnosis of preeclampsia and the population of fetuses at risk, we find a remarkably high relative risk of fetal death among pregnancies diagnosed with preeclampsia in the preterm period.
Level of evidence: II.