Metabolic syndrome is a condition characterized by the simultaneous presence of a cluster of risk factors leading to an increased cardiovascular risk. During pregnancy this syndrome has important repercussions on the maternal and fetal well-being and can cause important risks at the time of delivery. Pregestational hypertension increases the risk of preeclampsia, intrauterine fetal growth restriction and abruptio placentae. Also type II diabetes is a risk factor for preeclampsia and hypodevelopment but may also involve the appearance of fetal macrosomia and polyamnios. Fetal macrosomia is responsible for an increased risk of shoulder dystonia and polyamnios can determine the umbilical cord prolapse at the time of rupture of the membranes. Obesity is another element of metabolic syndrome. The obese pregnant patient has an increased risk of premature childbirth, she has a lower probability of response to the medical induction of labor and requires higher doses of oxytocin. In addition, the management of these patients is also complicated from an anesthesiological point of view: the placement of the peridural catheter is more difficult and they have a higher risk that it will displace, therefore getting a good epidural analgesia in these patients is not always easy. In obese patients, the risk of performing an urgent cesarian section is higher and leads to increased anaesthetic complications (tough intubation and difficult mechanical ventilation), intraoperative complications (increased bleeding and difficult fetal extraction) and post-operative (increased risk of surgical site infection). Still unclear are the effects of a dyslipidic state on pregnancy, although the change in lipidic profile is, within certain limits, physiological. Metabolic syndrome is therefore a condition that must be intercepted before pregnancy arises, as all the factors that compose it are modifiable.

Keywords: metabolic syndrome; pregnancy; obesity; hypertension; diabetes; delivery.