Study population
This prospective cohort study involved 50 singleton pregnant women diagnosed with severe preeclampsia or eclampsia who received seizure prophylaxis with magnesium sulfate before delivery. The participants had ages between 18 and 45 years old and were hospitalized at the Obstetrics Clinics of Van Yuzuncu Yil University between April 2021 and April 2022. Severe preeclampsia was diagnosed after 20th weeks of gestation if any of two conditions were observed: Blood pressure (BP) equal to or higher than 160 mm Hg for systolic BP or 110 mm Hg for diastolic BP, proteinurea greater than 300 mg/day, creatinine greater than 1.1 mg/dL or a two-fold increase in basal creatinine levels, a two-fold increase in liver function tests, severe and new onset central nervous system signs such as blurred vision and severe headaches, platelet count less than 100,000/mL or presence of pulmonary edema. Eclamptic patients were diagnosed if a seizure was observed in a preeclamptic woman with no other explanation for the seizures. These diagnoses were made complying with ACOG criteria [3]. Pregnant women with acute kidney disease (creatinine higher than 2.5 mg/dL) or having a fetus with cardiac defects or growth retardation were excluded from the study. The patient characteristics (age, height, weight, comorbidities, prescriptions including antihypertensive treatment, obstetric history), laboratory and ultrasonographic calculations (fetal biometric measurements, fetal umbilical and heart Doppler), maternal serum magnesium levels and obstetric outcomes (delivery mode, APGAR scores, etc.) were recorded.