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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Preeclampsia is a complication of pregnancy that's linked to life-threatening cardiovascular disease. New research shows the effects of preeclampsia may not end even after the baby is delivered.
Researchers at Yale School or Medicine, working in collaboration with researchers at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, discovered that chronic hypertension, diabetes and blood clots are more likely to occur in otherwise healthy women who experienced hypertension-related complications, like preeclampsia, during their first pregnancy. Women who had two pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia were at an even higher risk of hypertension after pregnancy.
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"The only reliable treatment for preeclampsia is delivery of the baby," senior author Michael J. Paidas, M.D., associate professor and director of the Program for Thrombosis and Hemostasis in Women's Health in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale, was quoted as saying. "But while delivery may 'cure' preeclampsia in the moment, these mothers are at high risk of chronic hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus and blood clots for the rest of their lives."
Dr. Paidas and the rest of his research team are currently conducting ongoing studies to explore the genetic links between pregnancy complications, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
SOURCE: 29th Annual Meeting of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine in San Diego, Calif., Jan. 26-31, 2009
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