The Preeclampsia Foundation and its partners have marked the month of May as preeclampsia
awareness month to raise awareness about the condition and its symptoms. Many events
and walks are organized throughout US to raise the public awareness about this
condition.
Preeclampsia
(PE) is a hypertensive disorder in pregnancy complicating up to 1-5% of
pregnancies, and remains a major cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and
mortality worldwide.
Besides
being the cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality it is also an
important risk factor for CVD later in life.
Several
studies, meta-analysis and systematic review have that women with a history of
preeclampsia have 2-4-fold increased risk of cardiovascular diseases(CVD) later
in life.
A recent paper presented at the ACOG conference in San Diego showed that internist and
family physicians seldom ask the women about this during a well women
examination missing an important opportunity to identify women at risk for a
CVD event.
Here are few
other important research papers published recently on early diagnosis,
treatment and long term follow up of patients with preeclampsia:
USPSTF final
recommendation statement favor screening for preeclampsia throughout pregnancy.
The US
Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) today issued its final recommendations
for preeclampsia screening by monitoring the blood pressure throughout
pregnancy with grade B, meaning there exists substantial net benefit for the
mother and infant because of screening.
The
recommendations, accompanying editorial and systematic review evidence was
published online 25 April 2017 in JAMA.
Preeclampsia
doubles the risk of future major fatal and nonfatal coronary event.
History of
preeclampsia in first pregnancy doubles the risk for Major Cardiac Event
(MACEs) subsequently later in life for mothers, the risk is 2.8 times if the
preeclamptic pregnancy resulted in SGA and/or preterm delivery. If the
preeclampsia recurs in subsequent pregnancy the risk is 2.2 times while if it
is combined again with in SGA and/or preterm delivery the risk increases nearly
5 times compared with women without preeclampsia according to new research
study published in March issue of Journal of American Medical Association(JAMA)
Pre-clinical
atherosclerosis persists up to 10 years after preeclamptic pregnancy .
Preeclampsia
(PE) is a hypertensive disorder in pregnancy complicating up to 1-5% of
pregnancies, and remains a major cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and
mortality worldwide.
History of
preeclampsia linked to coronary artery calcification 30 years later.
Preeclampsia
(PE) is a hypertensive pregnancy disorder complicating 1-5% of all pregnancies,
and is a major cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality.
In-fact it
is known as the modulator of the offspring health, as many studies have
associated it with increased incidence of metabolic syndrome later in the life
of the offspring.
A
substantial number of epidemiological studies in recent year have also
documented it to be a risk factor for increased cardiovascular and renal
diseases for mother later in life.
New Use of
old drug: Sildenafil Citrate ( Viagra) in treatment of preeclampsia.
A recent
study published online July 07, 2016 in journal of obstetrics and gynecology
concluded that treatment with sildenafil citrate prolonged pregnancy by an
average of 4 days compared with placebo.
Sildenafil
citrate, is a specific phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor, augments the vasodilatory
effects of NO by preventing the degradation of cGMP causing vasodilatation.
Phosphodiesterase-5 is present in the human feto-placental circulation and
sildenafil mediates vasodilatation and improve fetoplacental circulation by the
same mechanism of action.
Renal
Function Tests useful in predicting the risk of preeclampsia.
A recent
paper published online June 6 in Obstetrics & Gynecology suggests that
baseline renal parameters may be useful in predicting the risk for preeclampsia
among pregnant women with chronic hypertension.
This is a
retrospective cohort study of 755 women with singleton pregnancy with chronic
hypertension. Renal function (urine protein-to-creatinine ratio and serum
creatinine) assessment was done in all patients before 20 weeks.
Two blood
tests to rule out pre-eclampsia approved by The National Institute for Health
and Care Excellence (NICE), UK.
NICE have
approved and recommended two blood tests Triage PlGF test (Alere) and the
Elecsys immunoassay sFlt-1/PlGF ratio (Roche Diagnostics) to help rule-out
pre-eclampsia between 20th and 35th week of pregnancy.
The tests
detect changes in the blood indicating that the placenta is not developing
properly.
