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Pre-Eclampsia as a Multi-System Disease

1989; Springer Nature; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-1-4684-8953-8_12

2214-8019

John M. Davison,

Prenatal Screening and Diagnostics

Hypertension complicates 1 in 10 pregnancies. Approximately 50–60% of these women have pre-eclampsia, which occurs primarily in first pregnancies, usually after the twentieth gestational week and most often near term. of the various systemic changes in pre-eclampsia, hypertension, oedema and proteinuria have been given significant status for the purpose of definition.1 Indeed, other clinical labels include pregnancy-induced hypertension(PIH), hypertension peculiar to pregnancy and pregnancy associated hypertension, perhaps mistakenly reflecting the exclusive importance of raised blood pressure (BP). Hypertension, oedema and proteinuria are merely conveniently accessible clinical signs which are not specific or characteristic of the disorder but secondary features of whatever comprises the primary pathology. Furthermore, in clinical terms, there is difficulty distinguishing between pre-eclampsia, essential or secondary hypertension, renal disease or combinations of these entities. 2