Preeclampsia
Pre-eclampsia is a condition that causes high blood pressure during pregnancy and after labour. Globally, 10 million women develop preeclampsia each year. This disease encompasses 2% to 8% of pregnancy-related complications, more than 50,000 maternal deaths, and over 500,000 foetal deaths worldwide.
Symptoms:
Early signs of pre-eclampsia include having high blood pressure (hypertension) and protein in your urine (proteinuria).
It’s unlikely that you’ll notice these signs, but they should be picked up during your routine antenatal appointments, so it is important to attend them.
In some cases, further symptoms can develop, including:
- severe headache
- vision problems, such as blurring or flashing
- pain just below the ribs
- vomiting
- sudden swelling of the face, hands or feet
Diagnosis
Early diagnosis and prompt management are essential to preventing maternal and neonatal complications through symptomatic management and delivery planning. Preeclampsia should be detected and appropriately managed before the onset of convulsions (eclampsia) and other life-threatening complications.
Cause
Although the exact cause of pre-eclampsia is not known, it’s thought to occur when there’s a problem with the placenta, the organ that links the baby’s blood supply to the mother’s.
Treatment
Administering drugs such as magnesium sulphate for pre-eclampsia can lower a woman’s risk of developing eclampsia. In the U.S., pregnant women are commonly followed by a health care specialist (doctor, midwife or nurse) with frequent prenatal evaluations.
Worldwide, factors preventing women from seeking or receiving care are:
- poverty
- distance
- lack of information
- inadequate services
- cultural practices
Our Call to Action
- We call for adoption of the use of diagnostic tests for earlier identification of preeclampsia.
- Awareness of symptoms should be shared with pregnant women to ensure that they are tested for high blood pressure and then preeclampsia routinely. In areas of the world with little access to care and lower social status of women, traditional health practices are usually inadequate to detect preeclampsia early hence awareness is key.
At risk pregnancies should be screened/tested for preeclampsia to save more lives.
Read More
Diagnosis
Early diagnosis and prompt management are essential to preventing maternal and neonatal complications through symptomatic management and delivery planning. Preeclampsia should be detected and appropriately managed before the onset of convulsions (eclampsia) and other life-threatening complications.
Cause
Although the exact cause of pre-eclampsia is not known, it’s thought to occur when there’s a problem with the placenta, the organ that links the baby’s blood supply to the mother’s.
Treatment
Administering drugs such as magnesium sulphate for pre-eclampsia can lower a woman’s risk of developing eclampsia. In the U.S., pregnant women are commonly followed by a health care specialist (doctor, midwife or nurse) with frequent prenatal evaluations.
Worldwide, factors preventing women from seeking or receiving care are:
- poverty
- distance
- lack of information
- inadequate services
- cultural practices
Our Call to Action
- We call for adoption of the use of diagnostic tests for earlier identification of preeclampsia.
- Awareness of symptoms should be shared with pregnant women to ensure that they are tested for high blood pressure and then preeclampsia routinely. In areas of the world with little access to care and lower social status of women, traditional health practices are usually inadequate to detect preeclampsia early hence awareness is key.
At risk pregnancies should be screened/tested for preeclampsia to save more lives.