BMJ  2007;335:1059 (24 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39402.415046.BE

Letters

Pre-eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia is an inflammatory disorder

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Two research articles highlight the link between pre-eclampsia and cardiovascular diseases including ischaemic heart disease, hypertension, and stroke.^{1 2} The common factor in these conditions is endothelial dysfunction. What triggers this endothelial damage is not clear. Interestingly, atherosclerosis—an initiating factor for most of these diseases—has been increasingly recognised as an inflammatory disorder. Inflammatory markers, such as C reactive protein (CRP), increase in atherosclerosis and are risk factors for ischaemic heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and cerebrovascular disease. If these different conditions are risk factors for pre-eclampsia, then inflammation may be important in the pathophysiology of pre-eclampsia.

Evidence suggests pre-eclampsia may be an inflammatory disorder. Serum CRP concentrations were significantly higher in all groups of women whose hypertension developed during pregnancy than in controls and those with chronic hypertension.³

Other workers have investigated haemostatic function after pre-eclampsia to determine future risk of coronary heart disease.⁴ Patients with a history of pre-eclampsia had higher . . . [Full text of this article]

Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool L7 8XP

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Prepregnancy cardiovascular risk factors as predictors of pre-eclampsia: population based cohort study

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