When your doctor checks your blood pressure and asks for a urine sample at each prenatal visit, he or she is partly checking for signs of preeclampsia. With appropriate and prompt treatment, women with preeclampsia late in pregnancy have virtually the same excellent chance of having a healthy pregnancy and baby as those with normal blood pressure. Preeclampsia is a disorder that generally develops after week 20 of pregnancy and is characterized by a sudden onset of high blood pressure.
You may or may not also experience other symptoms, including protein in the urine and severe swelling of the hands and face. Unmanaged preeclampsia can prevent a developing fetus from getting enough blood and oxygen and damage a mother's liver and kidneys. In rare cases, untreated preeclampsia can progress to eclampsia , a much more serious condition involving seizures, or HELLP, another serious syndrome that can lead to liver damage and other complications.
An estimated 5 to 8 percent of pregnant women in the U. The condition tends to be more common in Black and Hispanic women than white women. Preeclampsia is more common in first pregnancies, which are generally classified as high-risk once the condition is identified. The following factors have also been connected with women who are diagnosed with preeclampsia:.
At each prenatal visit, your practitioner should check you for the following signs of preeclampsia:. Many symptoms of preeclampsia, like weight gain and edema, can be normal in a perfectly healthy pregnancy. Also keep in mind that high blood pressure on its own, whether you had it before pregnancy or it developed following conception, is not preeclampsia. No one knows for sure what causes preeclampsia, although experts believe it begins in the placenta as your body amps up your blood production to support your growing baby.
A decreased blood supply to the placenta in some women may lead to preeclampsia. Gestational hypertension occurs when women whose blood pressure levels were normal before pregnancy develop high blood pressure after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Gestational hypertension can progress into preeclampsia. Mild preeclampsia is diagnosed when a pregnant woman has: 2 , 3.
Eclampsia occurs when women with preeclampsia develop seizures. The seizures can happen before or during labor or after the baby is delivered. HELLP syndrome is diagnosed when laboratory tests show hemolysis burst red blood cells release hemoglobin into the blood plasma , elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets. If blood pressure is not controlled, use a different antihypertensive drug hydralazine, nifedipine, sodium nitroprusside.
In women with preeclampsia, blood pressure usually normalizes within a few hours after delivery but may remain elevated for two to four weeks. Women with preeclampsia should be counseled about future pregnancies. In nulliparous women with preeclampsia before 30 weeks of gestation, the recurrence rate for the disorder may be as high as 40 percent in future pregnancies. There currently are no well-established measures for preventing preeclampsia.
Calcium supplementation has been shown to produce modest blood pressure reductions in pregnant women who are at above-average risk for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and in pregnant women with low dietary calcium intake. Research on the use of antioxidants in the prevention of preeclampsia is promising. Although preeclampsia is not preventable, many deaths from the disorder can be prevented.
Women who do not receive prenatal care are seven times more likely to die from complications related to preeclampsia-eclampsia than women who receive some level of prenatal care.
Early detection, careful monitoring, and treatment of preeclampsia are crucial in preventing mortality related to this disorder. Already a member or subscriber? Log in.
Interested in AAFP membership? Learn more. Wagner earned her medical degree and completed a family medicine residency at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque. Address correspondence to Lana K. Wagner, M. Reprints are not available from the author. The author indicates that she does not have any conflicts of interest. Sources of funding: none reported. Guest editor of the series is Timothy L. Clenney, M. Magnesium sulfate therapy in preeclampsia and eclampsia. Obstet Gynecol.
Maternal hypertension and associated pregnancy complications among African-American and other women in the United States. Pregnancy-related mortality from preeclampsia and eclampsia.
ACOG practice bulletin. Diagnosis and management of preeclampsia and eclampsia. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Am J Obstet Gynecol. Does gestational hypertension become preeclampsia?. Br J Obstet Gynaecol. Sibai BM. Chronic hypertension in pregnancy. Dekker G, Sibai B. Primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of preeclampsia.
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Padden MO. HELLP syndrome: recognition and perinatal management. Am Fam Physician. The clinical utility of serum uric acid measurements in hypertensive diseases of pregnancy. Random protein-creatinine ratio for the quantitation of proteinuria in pregnancy. Use of a random urinary protein-to-creatinine ratio for the diagnosis of significant proteinuria during pregnancy. Prediction of hour protein excretion in pregnancy with a single voided urine protein-to-creatinine ratio.
Correlation of quantitative protein measurements in 8-, , and hour urine samples for the diagnosis of preeclampsia. Magpie Trial Collaboration Group. Preeclampsia is a very serious condition. It can be life-threatening for both mother and child if left untreated. Other complications can include:. This includes eating a healthy diet, taking prenatal vitamins with folic acid, and going for regular prenatal care checkups. But even with proper care, unavoidable conditions like preeclampsia can sometimes occur, during pregnancy or after delivery.
This can be dangerous for both you and your baby. Talk with your doctor about things you can do to reduce your risk of preeclampsia and about the warning signs. If necessary, they may refer you to a maternal-fetal medicine specialist for additional care.
Preeclampsia is a serious condition that can occur during pregnancy. Learn what you can do to help control your blood pressure. Magnesium sulfate therapy is used to prevent seizures in women with preeclampsia.
It can also help prolong pregnancy for up to two days. This allows…. Having preeclampsia in a first pregnancy increases your risk of developing it again in a second pregnancy. Your degree of risk depends on the severity…. Eclampsia is a rare but serious condition that causes seizures during pregnancy. Eclampsia affects about 1 in every women with preeclampsia.
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