Grant: Project Grant

Preeclampsia is a hypertensive disorder affecting 3-5% of pregnancies. It is defined by high blood pressure after 20 weeks of pregnancy in combination with problems of the kidneys, brain, heart, lungs, liver, blood, or placenta. Preeclampsia is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular problems during pregnancy and the weeks after delivery. Women with cardiovascular problems in pregnancy are at risk of serious maternal illness and death. As such, we must find ways to better identify patients with preeclampsia that will develop cardiovascular complications in order to improve maternal health. Our ultimate goal is to develop a tool that can be used by clinicians to help them identify women with preeclampsia who will have serious cardiovascular problems during pregnancy or within the first 12 weeks after delivery. This tool is planned to be developed in a future larger study: the "predicting Short-term Adverse cardiovasculaR outcomes in preeclampsiA using BIomarkers" (SARABI) study, which will require a large number of participants. As a required first step, we propose to conduct a pilot study to determine whether the full-scale SARABI study is feasible. Individuals with preeclampsia at two participating institutions will be eligible for inclusion. Ultrasound and laboratory tests looking at the function of the heart and the placenta will be obtained. We will first examine serious cardiovascular problems occurring within 12 weeks after delivery. We will then assess persistently elevated blood pressure at 12 weeks after delivery. We will gather results on how many participants agree to participate and enter the study at each site, and how many remain in the study. Based on these findings, we will determine if we can proceed to the full SARABI study. The proposed project meets an unmet and urgent clinical need for patients with preeclampsia. Overall, this project will allow to tailor the cardiovascular care of patient with preeclampsia.