Effects of Modes and Timings of Delivery on Feto-Maternal Outcomes in Women with Severe Preeclampsia: A Multi-Center Survey in Mainland China

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy termination is the only effective treatment for preeclampsia. However, there are controversies on the selection of modes of delivery. The objective was to evaluate whether mode of delivery in labor differentially affected the rate of adverse maternal outcomes related to severe preeclampsia. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate whether the modes and timings of delivery affects adverse maternal outcomes in pre-eclampsia. METHODS: Clinical data from 2516 singleton pregnant women with severe preeclampsia were collected in a multicenter, large-sample, cross-sectional study in mainland China. The patients were divided into cesarean-delivery (CD) and vaginal-delivery (VD) categories and then into Group 1 (≤27(+ 6) weeks), Group 2 (28–33(+ 6) weeks), Group 3 (34–36(+ 6) weeks), and Group 4 (≥37 weeks) according to the mode of delivery and gestational weeks. All data were exported into the SPSS software and analyzed by the Student’s t-tests or Mann–Whitney U-tests and the chi-squared test. RESULTS: A total of 2516 singleton pregnant women with severe preeclampsia were collected and the overall cesarean section rate was 84.9%. The vaginal delivery rates among the four groups were significantly different with 70%, 19.7%, 6.6%, 15.1% in groups 1, 2, 3, 4, respectively (P<0.05), while perinatal mortality was lower in the CD groups than VD groups (3.3% vs 50.4%, P<0.05). The neonatal asphyxia rate was significantly higher with CD than with VD in Group 2 (36.4% vs 12.9%, P<0.05). The perinatal mortality with CD, 3, and 4 was significantly lower than with VD (10.0% vs 68.5% in Groups 2, 2.3% vs 28.3% in Groups 3, 0.8% vs 5.6% in Groups 4, all P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Most pregnant women with severe preeclampsia opted for a cesarean section in China. The lower perinatal mortality was associated with cesarean section, but the rate of maternal PPH or mortality was not related with the mode of delivery. So cesarean section is the safer delivery mode for the pregnant women complicated with severe preeclampsia.