Vitamins supplementation affects the onset of preeclampsia

Preeclampsia may affect between 2-8% of all pregnancies. It seriously affects maternal health after pregnancy. This meta-analysis was performed to define the efficacy of vitamins supplementation on the risk of preeclampsia. Potential articles were systematically searched on the databases of Pubmed, Embase and Web of Science up to May 2016. Relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to analyze the relationship of vitamins supplementation with risk of preeclampsia. Cochran Q test was used to test inter-study heterogeneity. Begg's funnel plot was adopted to assess the potential publication bias. 28 eligible studies were selected. Pooled results indicated that vitamins supplementation could reduce the risk of preeclampsia (RR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.64-0.86). The studies with non-randomized controlled trial (RCT) analysis also suggested the significant relationship of vitamins supplementation with risk of preeclampsia (RR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.42-0.85). However, negative results were observed in studies with RCT analysis. Subgroup analysis by vitamin type was performed among the studies with RCT analysis. The results indicated that vitamin D supplementation could significantly reduce the risk of preeclampsia (RR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.22-0.78). Similar results were observed in the studies with multivitamins supplementation (RR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.51-0.93). Vitamins supplementation could reduce the onset of preeclampsia. Copyright (C) 2017, Formosan Medical Association. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC.