LONDON: Women born underweight stand a greater risk of developing pre-eclampsia during pregnancy, a study in Sweden has found. The risk is even greater if their mothers had pre-eclampsia when they were pregnant with them, the study added.
Pre-eclampsia is a common condition marked by high blood pressure, which in extreme cases can put a pregnant woman's as well as the unborn baby's life at risk. Up to one in 30 mothers-to-be are known to develop the condition, which causes blood clots and kidney damage. The only preventive treatment is emergency Caesarean section.
The study, carried out at the Orebro University Hospital in Sweden,covered 6,000 women under the age of 30 years, who had been underweight when born and who had given birth themselves.
Dr Karin Zetterstrom, who led the study, said those who are born underweight have high risk of heart disease and the severe form of pre-eclampsia might be part of that pathway. He said, "It might be of value to ask a woman if she was born underweight or if her mother had pre-eclampsia because we know she is at high risk that her pre-eclampsia will turn out to be the severe form."
Earlier studies on the subject had suggested pre-eclampsia could be running in families.
Zetterstrom said pre-eclampsia could be dangerous to the mother as well as the baby in many ways.
Details of the study have been published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
