Preeclampsia is a pregnancy condition that causes high blood pressure and signs of damage to other organ systems, mostly liver and kidneys. While preeclampsia can cause significant health problems on its own, recent evidence suggests that it might also increase the risk of late kidney disease. This study aims to investigate the associations between preeclampsia and the risk of later kidney disease.
This is a nationwide register-based cohort study that included a total of 1,072,330 women with at least one pregnancy in the last 20 weeks, and with or without a history of preeclampsia. The primary objective of the study was to compare the hazard ratios of kidney disease between women with and without a history of preeclampsia.
The researchers found that women with a history of preeclampsia were at a higher risk of developing chronic renal conditions than those without any previous diagnosis. The hazard ratios were 3.93 for early preterm preeclampsia, 2.81 for late preterm preeclampsia, and 2.27 for term preeclampsia. The strongest associations were found with chronic kidney disease, hypertensive kidney disease, and glomerular kidney disease.
The research concluded that preeclampsia, especially in early preterm, was associated with a significantly higher risk of chronic renal conditions later in life.
Ref: https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l1516
