-
-
-
-
-
-
|
About Preeclampsia
Preeclampsia is an illness that you can only get during pregnancy or straight after your baby is born. It can affect you and your unborn baby. Preeclampsia is caused by problems in the placenta and there is still no reliable way to prevent the disorder.
Preeclampsia and related hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a leading cause of maternal and infant death - responsible for at least 76,000 deaths annually. It has no known cause and the only cure is delivery of the infant, regardless of gestational age. As a result, it is a leading cause of prematurity and prematurity-related complications.
The Basic Facts About Preeclampsia
- Preeclampsia/eclampsia threatens the lives of 8 million women and their children every year.
- Preeclampsia/eclampsia is a leading cause of maternal and infant illness and death.
- Conservative estimates put deaths from eclampsia at 40,000 to 50,000+ a year
- Experts agree over an equal number of unreported deaths occur from preeclampsia.
- The physical toll of preeclampsia/eclampsia to a woman can include: placental abruption, hemorrhage, kidney, liver, heart, brain, ocular and lung damage and failure, stroke, blindness, paralysis, seizures, and death.
- The physical toll of preeclampsia/eclampsia to an infant can include: prematurity and related complications, intra-uterine growth restriction, and death. Infants whose mothers have had preeclampsia have an increased risk of having preeclampsia when they, or a spouse, bears children, and are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension.
- Preeclampsia is the leading known cause of prematurity and responsible for 15% of premature births.
- Globally, 12.4% of infants born to mothers who have had preeclampsia will die within their first month of life.
- Preeclampsia is hereditary - women whose mothers, sisters, or grandmothers have had preeclampsia stand a two to five-fold increased risk of having preeclampsia themselves.
- Preeclampsia is increasing. In the USA, identification, and/or incidence of the disease itself has increase by 40% in the past decade.
- Preeclampsia unveils long-term health consequences for the women. Recent studies show that women who have had preeclampsia are 2.6 times more likely to die within twenty years of cardiovascular disease than women who have not had preeclampsia.
- Preeclampsia is a leading cause of infant and neonatal death-conservatively 300,000 such deaths worldwide.
© Copyright Garrett, A; Easterling, T et al, The Seattle Mandate June 2003.
For More Information
For more in-depth information on preeclampsia, eclampsia, HELLP Syndrome and related disorders or to find information and resources in your area - check out these reliable sites:
|
