Preeclampsia may up risk of kidney disease
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Women who develop preeclampsia during pregnancy appear to be at increased risk for developing end-stage renal disease (ESRD) later in life—although the absolute risk is small—new research suggests.
Preeclampsia is a potentially serious condition that occurs in pregnancy, characterized by a dangerously high rise in blood pressure, protein in the urine, and an increased risk of having a premature infant.
“The biggest finding in our study is that preeclampsia is associated with a 4- to 5-times increased risk of ESRD. We were surprised that the association was that strong,” lead researcher Dr. Bjorn Egil Vikse told Reuters Health.
Vikse, from Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, and his associates linked data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway and the Norwegian Renal Registry. A total of 570,433 women who had a first singleton birth between 1967 and 1991 were included in the study.
Overall, 477 women developed ESRD an average of 17 years after the first pregnancy, yielding a rate of 3.7 cases per 100,000 women per year, the researchers report in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.
Preeclampsia during a first or subsequent pregnancy increased the odds of ESRD, typically by around fivefold, depending on the number of affected pregnancies a woman had.
“A take-home message is that women who have had preeclampsia are at increased risk for renal disease,” Vikse emphasized.
As other studies have shown an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in women with previous preeclampsia, they should be followed closely “in order to prevent development of cardiovascular and renal disease,” he advised.
SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine, August 21, 2008.
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