Uterine artery velocimetry in patients with gestational hypertension.

To evaluate whether abnormal uterine artery velocimetry in patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension is more predictive of the outcome of pregnancy than the presence of proteinuria and the severity of hypertension.A retrospective study was conducted on 344 hypertensive pregnant women who underwent uterine artery Doppler investigation. Patients were classified as either preeclamptic or with gestational hypertension at follow-up 2 months after delivery. Pregnancy outcomes of patients with preeclampsia and gestational hypertension were correlated to uterine artery velocimetry. A further analysis was done dividing patients into mild and severe groups.An abnormal uterine Doppler was related to a significantly earlier week of delivery (32.5 versus 35.3 in preeclampsia, 33.6 versus 38.1 in gestational hypertension), a lower mean birth weight (1494 g versus 2320 g in preeclampsia, 1690 g versus 2848 g in gestational hypertension), and a higher number of growth-restricted fetuses (70% versus 23% in preeclampsia, 75% versus 20% in gestational hypertension). In both mild and severe hypertensive groups, abnormal uterine velocimetry was associated with a worse pregnancy outcome (delivery at week 33.1, versus 37.9 in the mild group; 32.7 versus 37.3 in the severe group; birth weight 1574 g versus 2741 g in the mild group; 1539 g versus 2742 g in the severe group). A multivariable analysis of the presence of proteinuria, severity of hypertension, and uterine Doppler revealed that only an abnormal uterine Doppler was significantly related to adverse perinatal outcome (P <.001).Abnormal uterine Doppler was the variable that was more frequently associated with adverse pregnancy outcome.