Pre-eclampsia: What You Need To Know

Know when to seek medical help during your pregnancy.

- Raja Jumira

Pregnancy is mostly a beautiful thing. After all, it quite literally provides the gift of life. Unfortunately, however, pregnancy can come with complications – even fatal ones.

One of those complications is pre-eclampsia, known as pregnancy-induced high blood pressure and is associated with protein in the urine. The more severe pre-eclampsia is, the greater the risk of serious complications to both mother and baby. Here’s what you need to know about the disease.

What is pre-eclampsia?

Pre-eclampsia is a condition that only occurs during pregnancy. It causes high blood pressure (hypertension) and causes protein to leak from your kidneys into your urine. This can be detected by testing your urine for protein. It usually occurs some time after the 20th week of your pregnancy and gets better within six weeks of you giving birth. Pre-eclampsia affects 10 percent of pregnancies and can run in families.

What causes pre-eclampsia and Who develops it?

The exact cause of pre-eclampsia is uncertain but it is probably due to a problem with the afterbirth (placenta). This is the attachment between your baby and your womb (uterus). It is thought that there are problems with the development of the blood vessels of the placenta in pre-eclampsia and also damage to the placenta in some way. This may affect the transfer of oxygen and nutrients to your baby. Any pregnant woman can develop pre-eclampsia. However, there are some women who may be more likely to develop it due to genetic factors.

You have a moderately increased risk of developing pre-eclampsia if:

This is your first pregnancy, or it has been 10 years or more since your last pregnancy