WASHINGTON — When you're expecting a baby, you hope nothing goes wrong. But at least one in 20 people who are pregnant develop a scary complication called preeclampsia, a high blood pressure disorder that kills 70,000 women and 500,000 babies worldwide every year. There was no way to know when it might strike — until now.
New blood tests may help doctors predict and manage this dangerous condition. “When something bad happens in pregnancy, you want to catch it early so you can avoid adverse outcomes for the mom and the baby,” said Dr. S.
Ananth Karumanchi with Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. The condition affects both the mother and baby and can occur in the second half of pregnancy or the postpartum period. The exact causes aren’t known.
Besides high blood pressure, other signs of preeclampsia include protein in the urine, severe headaches, changes in vision, nausea and sudden swelling in your face and hands. It’s generally diagnosed by checking for protein in the urine, measuring blood pressure and following up with other tests if warranted. Once you have preeclampsia, it can progress rapidly and cause organ damage, stroke, preterm birth, slow growth in the baby and other problems.
To prevent the condition, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends pregnant patients get low-dose aspirin if they have one or more particular risk factors , such as chronic high blood pressure, Type 1 or 2 diabetes before pregnancy or kidney disease. The primary.