Preeclampsia

Definition:
Preeclampsia is a disease mainly occurs in pregnant ladies. This disease characterized by high blood pressure and it also damages the other organs of the body. This Preeclampsia disease usually starts after 20-25 weeks of pregnancy in a woman whose blood pressure is in normal stage. Even for simple complications in blood pressure may be a sign of Preeclampsia. Left untreated, preeclampsia can lead to serious — even fatal — complications for both you and your baby. If you have preeclampsia, the only cure is delivery of your baby. If you're diagnosed with preeclampsia too early in your pregnancy to deliver your baby, you and your doctor face a challenging task. Your baby needs more time to mature, but you need to avoid putting yourself or your baby at risk of serious complications.

Symptoms:
Sometimes Preeclampsia may develop without any symptoms. High blood pressure may develop slowly, but more commonly it has a sudden onset. Monitoring your blood.

Treatment: The main cure for preeclampsia is only delivery. You're at increased risk of seizures, placental abruption, stroke and possibly severe bleeding until your blood pressure decreases. Of course, if it's too early in your pregnancy, delivery may not be the best thing for your baby. If you're diagnosed with preeclampsia, your doctor will let you know how often you'll need to come in for prenatal visits — likely more frequently than what's typically recommended for pregnancy. You'll also need more-frequent blood tests, ultrasounds and nonstress tests than would be expected in an uncomplicated pregnancy. Possible treatment for preeclampsia may include: Medications to lower blood pressure, Corticosteroids, Anticonvulsant medications

Statistics: In Singapore, The analysis of 2,213 (3.6 percent) out of 61,595 deliveries were complicated by Preeclampsia. Incidence rates for mild or unspecified Preeclampsia, severe PE, eclampsia and PE superimposed on hypertension (High Blood Pressure) were 2.47 percent (1,518), 0.97 percent (599), 0.02 percent (10) and 0.14 percent (85), respectively. The incidence increased with multiple pregnancies: from 3.5 percent in singletons to 7.5 percent in twins, 19.4 percent in triplets and 25.0 percent in quadruplets. The Caesarean section (C-Section) rate for PE was 46.1 percent compared with 23.7 percent in the hospital population. The proportion of premature birth (<37 weeks) in PE was 31.0 percent and that of severe prematurity (<32 weeks) was 5.7 percent, while hospital population proportions were 9.8 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. The perinatal mortality rate (PMR) of PE was 11.0/1,000 births (population PMR was 4.4/1,000 births). There were only ten cases of eclampsia out of 61,595 deliveries (1:6160) giving an incidence of eclampsia of 16.2/100,000 deliveries. There was no stillbirth, neonatal and maternal death among the eclamptic patients.