Pre-eclampsia ? diagnosis and treatment

Pre-eclampsia is a dangerous complication of pregnancy, which can affect both mother and baby. Dr Howard Lee looks at the causes and treatment

This is a condition that is unique to pregnancy and usually occurs after the 20th week of gestation, although it can occur earlier.

Up to 1 in 10 women suffers from pre-eclampsia, but the severity can vary from 'nothing to worry about' to 'serious concern' about the mother and baby, so a more reassuring statistic shows that only 1 in 100 women is severely affected.

Pregnant women are quite often admitted to the antenatal ward with high blood pressure (hypertension) - and the level of concern at this stage will depend on what is causing the hypertension - and how high the blood pressure is, of course.

Measuring blood pressure levels:

A blood pressure greater than 140/90 in pregnancy is considered raised.
Very high blood pressure is greater than 170/110

It does seem that some women develop hypertension only when they are pregnant, but this usually resolves itself after delivery. This is called Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension (PIH).

Hypertension can be one of the signs and symptoms of pre-eclampsia and, unless it is very high, a woman will not be aware that her blood pressure has increased, because she will have no symptoms.