Urogenital infection in preeclampsia

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the incidence of urinary tract infections and postpartum endometritis were increased in preeclamptic pregnancies. METHOD: We conducted a retrospective study of 13852 pregnant women, using a perinatal database at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, over the past 5 years. The incidence of urinary tract infections and postpartum endometritis was analyzed using the chi-squared test and logistic regression analysis. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. RESULTS: There were 345 (2.5%) mild preeclamptics and 440 (3.2%) severe preeclamptics. The incidence of urinary tract infections and postpartum endometritis in preeclamptic patients was significantly higher than that in non-hypertensive pregnant patients. After controlling for confounding variables, severe preeclampsia was still found to be an independent significant risk factor for both urinary tract infections and postpartum endometritis. CONCLUSION: Our data show a significant increase in urogenital infection in preeclamptic pregnancy. This may reflect higher rates of underlying renal disease and placental bed abnormalities occurring in preeclampsia.