Calcium Supplementation In Pregnancy To Prevent Preeclam

Child Health And Human Development

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Abstract

We randomly assigned 4589 healthy nulliparous women who were 13 to 21 weeks pregnant to receive daily treatment with either 2g of elemental calcium or placebo for the remainder of their pregnancies. Surveillance for preeclampsia was conducted by personnel unaware of treatment-group assignments using standardized measurements of blood pressure and urinary protein excretion at uniformly scheduled prenatal visits, protocols for monitoring these measurements during the hospitalization for delivery, and reviews of medical records of unscheduled outpatient visits and all hospitalizations. Calcium supplementation did not significantly reduce the incidence or severity of preeclampsia or delay its onset. Preeclampsia occurred in 158 of the 2295 women in the calcium group (6.9 percent) and 168 of the 2294 women in the placebo group (7.3 percent)(relative risk, 0.94; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.76 to 1.16). There were no significant differences between the two groups in the prevalence of pregnancy-associated hypertension without preeclampsia (15.3 percent vs. 17.3 percent) or of all hypertensive disorders (22.2 percent vs. 24.6 percent). The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures during pregnancy were similar in both groups. Calcium did not reduce the numbers of preterm deliveries, small-for-gestational age births, or fetal and neonatal deaths; nor did it increase urolithiasis during pregnancy. Additional analyses utilizing the study database are being performed. During FY02, the following papers were published: one on smoking before pregnancy and risk of gestational hypertension and preeclampsia; one on increased risk of preeclampsia among women with idiopathic hematuria; and another on abortion, paternity, and risk of preeclampsia in nulliparous women. Other studies are underway on urinary insulin in preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, and gestational diabetes mellitus; smoking, glucose tolerance, and gestational diabetes mellitus; maternal serum C-reactive protein in preelampsia; and fetal DNA in maternal serum in preeclamptic vs. normotensive pregnancy.