Pre-eclampsia detected early?

Pre-eclampsia, high blood pressure during pregnancy results in a high-risk pregnancy. Pre-eclampsia can lead to the much more serious condition, toxemia – also called eclampsia. Now, according to an Reuter’s article, Preeclampsia Test To Reduce Maternal And Neonatal Deaths, says that there may be a way to detect the risk of pre-eclampsia. This is a significant finding considering that pre-eclampsia affects between 3 to 10% or 5 to 8% of all pregnancies, depending on which statistics you use.

Aside from a rising blood pressure, women who develop pre-eclampsia start "spilling" protein into their urine, a substance that shouldn’t be there normally. This is one reason why a pregnant woman’s urine is tested regularly. According to the Preeclamsia Foundation, "Globally, preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a leading cause of maternal and infant illness and death. By conservative estimates, these disorders are responsible for 76,000 maternal and 500,000 infant deaths each year."

If you’re pregnant, please take your blood pressure seriously! There may be some ways to help reduce the risk of developing pre-eclampsia: Stretching Exercises May Reduce Risk of Preeclampsia, Gum disease in pregnant women may raise risk for preeclampsia, and Pregnancy + Fiber = lower chance of preeclampsia?). 

You can get more information on pre-eclampsia at the Preeclampsia Foundation.

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Tags: pregnancy blog, preeclampsia, pre-eclampsia, high blood pressure in pregnancy, eclampsia, toxemia