A new method for identifying pregnant women at risk of preeclampsia, a pregnancy disease associated with hypertension and the presence of proteins in the kidneys, can detect 77% of severe cases.
At least this is what a new study from Laval University and the Quebec University Hospital Research Center reveals, specifying that this new approach makes it possible to halve deliveries before the 34th week of pregnancy.
“The problem is usually diagnosed after the 20th week of pregnancy,” said Emmanuel Bujold, a clinical teaching physician at the Faculty of Medicine who led the international research team.
Until then, aspirin is given to prevent the majority of severe cases of preeclampsia, but due to the antiplatelet properties of this drug, doctors cannot prescribe it to all pregnant women.
“Taking daily aspirin from the 11th or 12th week of pregnancy prevents up to 90% of cases of preeclampsia that lead to deliveries before the 34th week of pregnancy,” explained Mr. Bujold.
Researchers at Laval University tested a new approach developed in the United Kingdom associated with the pulsatility of the uterine artery and a measurement of the blood levels of two proteins linked to pregnancy.
As part of this study, of the 7,325 women pregnant between the 11th and 14th weeks of a first pregnancy, 65 suffered from preeclampsia before the 37th week of pregnancy, including 22 severe cases requiring delivery before the 34th week.
“The current method would have made it possible to detect 59% of cases of severe preeclampsia and would have generated 34% false positives. The new approach makes it possible to detect 77% of cases of severe preeclampsia and the false positive rate is 16%,” summarized Professor Bujold.
