Maternal Hypertension and Neonatal Outcomes Of Small For Gestational Age Infant Compared With Appropriate For Gestational Age Infant

Background: Hypertensive disease complicate 5-7% of all pregnancies. It is responsible for high maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality rates. Objective: To evaluate the impact of maternal hypertension on the neonatal outcomes, whether they are appropriate for gestational age (AGA) or small for gestational age (SGA). Method: Mothers of 197 newborns who had hypertension (gestational, essential) were enrolled. The population divided according to the newborn gestational age and their body weight; the SGA group (N= 37) who had a body weight less than 10% of the gestational age, second group, those with AGA group (N=160) who had a body weight between 10% - 90% for the gestational age. Newborns products of these mothers were followed up from delivery until discharge. Results: The mean of the gestational age was 36.2 ±3 weeks and the mean of babies body weight was 2865.75±786.51 gm. 6.6 % of the newborns delivered vaginally and 84 % of the mothers developed gestational hypertension, 75% of the newborns discharged immediately to the mother while 23% of them admitted to the NICU. There was no statistical significant difference between AGA group compared to SGA group. RDS, TTN and sepsis were significantly more in the SGA group than in AGA group. Those with gestational hypertension develop RDS and TTN more than those with essential hypertension (p = 0.043). Conclusion: SGA newborns of hypertensive mothers have better respiratory outcome than AGA newborns, but there was no difference in general neonatal outcome. This result confirms the protective impact of maternal hypertension.