Key clinical point: A majority of women with preterm preeclampsia showed persistent cardiovascular morbidity at 6 months postpartum, which may have significant implications to long-term cardiovascular health.
Major finding: At 6 months postpartum, diastolic dysfunction, increased total vascular resistance (TVR), and persistent left ventricular remodeling were observed in 61%, 75%, and 41% of women, respectively, with 46% of women with no pre-existing hypertension having de novo hypertension and only 5% of women having a completely normal echocardiogram. A significant association was observed between prolonged preeclampsia duration and increased TVR at 6 months (P = .02).
Study details: Findings are from a sub-study of PICk-UP trial involving 44 postnatal women with preterm preeclampsia who delivered before 37 weeks.
Disclosures: This study was funded by the Medical Research Council, UK. The authors declared no competing financial interests.
Source: Ormesher L et al. Postnatal cardiovascular morbidity following preterm pre-eclampsia: An observational study. Pregnancy Hypertens. 2022;30:68-81 (Aug 17). Doi: 10.1016/j.preghy.2022.08.007