As the Government focuses on improving maternal mortality rate (MMR), doctors in the sector have pointed out that conditions like pre-eclampsia, one of the hypertensive (high blood pressure) disorders of pregnancy, needs to be tackled at the early stage to check morbidity.
They said, pre-eclampsia is a major cause of maternal and prenatal mortality (number of stillbirths and deaths of newborn in the first week of life) and morbidity. In India, the incidence of pre-eclampsia is reported to be 8-10 percent among the pregnant women.
Approximately ten million women develop pre-eclampsia each year around the world. Worldwide about 76,000 pregnant women die each year from pre-eclampsia and related hypertensive disorders. And, the number of babies who die from these disorders is estimated to be 500,000 per annum
Along with pre-eclampsia, other diseases which are included in the group of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are eclampsia, gestational hypertension and chronic hypertension, as per the doctors. “Pre-eclampsia is one of the hypertensive (high blood pressure) disorders of pregnancy. At present the major challenges in modern obstetrics are the identification of women at high risk for pre-eclampsia early in pregnancy and interventions to reduce the prevalence of the disease.
“It is important that clinicians are able to identify and screen pregnant women right in the first trimester,” said Dr Sushil Shah, Chairman of Metropolis Healthcare which has recently launched new test to screen and diagnose Preeclampsia.
Additional symptoms such as headache, pain, blurred vision or edema characterize the next stage of the disease, which is termed HEllP-syndrome (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes levels, low platelet count)
Amit Chopra, managing director of Thermo Fisher Scientific-India and Middle East, an American biotechnology product development company pointed out that a screening test helps to detect the individual risk of a pregnant woman to develop pre-eclampsia later on in pregnancy.
In this direction, we have launched prototype biomarker for pre-eclampsia. Early detection of the biomarkers in maternal blood significantly improve risk stratification in women for pre-eclampsia evaluation, said Chopra.
Invasive prenatal diagnosis often poses threats of miscarriages. Non-Invasive Prenatal Screening (NIPS) are the most promising among the various non-invasive tests developed so far, say the doctors adding that an unmanaged preeclampsia can prevent a developing fetus from getting enough blood and oxygen, damage a mother’s liver and kidneys, and, in rare cases, progress to eclampsia.
Dr.Ashok Khurana, President, Society of Fetal Medicine, said, “First Trimester Penta Screening is a significant improvement over conventional combined test screening (Double Marker Screening tests) because it potentially reduces the need for follow-up invasive testing, thus reducing costs and risks. It addresses several complications of the fetus and mother, including the commonest congenital cause of mental disability (Down syndrome), commonest structural defects (Open Neural Tube Defects), and the most life-threatening blood pressure disorder in pregnancy (Preeclampsia). Early diagnosis and treatment facilitated by the tests makes pregnancy considerably safer. “
Recent scientific studies have shown that administering low-dose aspirin before week 16 of pregnancy can reduce the incidence of pre-eclampsia. This medication can only be advised and prescribed by the treating physician, the doctors say.