Test may give early warning of pre-eclampsia condition

A SIMPLE urine test could provide an early warning of a common and dangerous complication of pregnancy.

Scientists in the United States have found that women at risk of developing pre-eclampsia have lower levels of a protein that promotes the growth of blood vessels. They believe that the test could predict the condition up to two months before the onset of symptoms. Pre-eclampsia, the most common serious complication of pregnancy, is caused by a fault in the placenta. It typically develops after the 20th week of pregnancy and is characterised by high blood pressure. Symptomless in its early stages, it can develop into eclampsia, producing a rise in blood pressure that can be fatal. The condition affects about one in ten pregnancies and is responsible for the deaths of up to five women a year in Britain, as well as 500 to 600 babies. Research by Ananth Karumanchi from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests that a protein called PIGF could provide a reliable early warning of pre-eclampsia. The study compared levels of the protein PIGF in the urine of 118 women who had normal pregnancies with those of 120 women who developed pre-eclampsia. It found that PIGF levels were lower in pre-eclamptic patients, both when they were ill and six to eight weeks before symptoms appeared.(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, The Times UK, January 2005)