Risk of preeclampsia among women living in coastal areas impacted by sargassum strandings on the French Caribbean island of Martinique.

Objective: To investigate preeclampsia risk of pregnant women living in coastal areas regularly impacted by massive sargassum strandings.

Design: Retrospective cohort study SETTINGS AND POPULATION: Pregnant women (n = 3020), seen at the University Hospital of Martinique, were included between 25/01/2016 and 31/07/2020.

Methods: Patient records were retrospectively reviewed. Distance from coastline sargassum stranding sites was characterized as follows: < 500 m, 500 m-2 km, > 2 km.

Main Outcome Measures: Primary endpoint was occurrence of preeclampsia. Secondary endpoint was time to preeclampsia defined as the number of weeks free of preeclampsia between the 20th and 37th week of amenorrhea.

Results: Time to preeclampsia onset was significantly shorter in women living in the ≤ 2 km range (mean survival time 32 ± 1 amenorrhea weeks) compared to those beyond 2 km (mean survival time 35 ± 1 amenorrhea weeks, p = 0.037).

Conclusion: Along with traditional risk factors, environmental exposure to sargassum strandings might potentially trigger early onset of preeclampsia.