Hans van den Heuvel

Table 2. Baseline characteristics SAFE@HOME n = 103 Control n = 133 p-value Age (years) mean (SD) 33.7 (4.6) 33.1 (4.7) 0.27 Body mass index (kg/m2) mean (SD) 25.2 (4.5) 26.5 (5.75) 0.06 Ethnicity n (%) Caucasian 82 (79.6) 97 (72.9) 0.23 Mediterranean 14 (13.6) 24 (18.0) 0.36 Afro–Caribbean 4 (3.9) 6 (4.5) 1,00 Other / unknown 3 (2.9) 6 (4.5) 0.74 Education n (%) Primary school or less 3 (2.9) 2 (1.5) 0.66 High school 9 (8.7) 5 (3.8) 0.11 Secondary school 36 (35.0) 44 (33.1) 0.76 Professional education 30 (29.1) 48 (36.1) 0.26 University graduate 25 (24.3) 34 (25.6) 0.82 Nulliparity n (%) 31 (30.1) 36 (27.1) 0.61 Smoker n (%) 2 (2.0) 6 (4.6) 0.47 Psychiatric disorder in pregnancy n (%) 7 (6.8) 8 (6.3) 0.84 Prior HDP n (%) 40 (38.8) 68 (51.1) 0.13 Systolic BP at intake (mmHg) mean (SD) 120 (16.9) 122 (17.8) 0.26 Diastolic BP at intake (mmHg) mean (SD) 74 (12.3) 75 (12.8) 0.39 Risk factor for inclusion n (%) Prior preeclampsia 23 (22.3) 44 (33.1) 0.07 Chronic hypertension 28 (27.2) 45 (33.8) 0.27 Cardiac disease * 35 (34.0) 38 (28.6) 0.37 Kidney disease § 17 (16.5) 6 (4.5) 0.002 Start of telemonitoring Weeks of gestational age 17.9 (3.9) - - Duration of telemonitoring Weeks 20.2 (4.0) - - Legend: BP, blood pressure; HDP hypertensive disorder of pregnancy; SD, standard deviation * e.g. maternal congenital heart disease, arrhythmias, valvular heart disease, aortopathy § e.g. (obstetric) antiphospholipid syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, chronic kidney disease Baseline characteristics are shown in Table 2. Maternal age, BMI, ethnicity, education level and parity were similar between groups, as were history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) and intake blood pressure. The distribution of the four risk factors for preeclampsia, as reason for study inclusion, was comparable for preeclampsia in prior pregnancy, chronic hypertension and maternal cardiac disease. However, more women with kidney disease were included in the SAFE@HOME group (16.5% vs 4.5%, p = 0.002), as one of the study centres became a referral centre for kidney disease in pregnancy during the intervention period. CHAPTER 5 74