Pregnant women should get routine blood pressure checks at every prenatal visit to screen for preeclampsia, according to new proposed U.S. guidelines aimed at preventing deaths from this complication.
Even though many doctors already monitor blood pressure throughout pregnancy, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a government-backed panel of independent physicians, is updating its clinical guidelines for the first time since 1996 to reflect emerging evidence on the best way to detect preeclampsia.
“The Task Force recognizes the seriousness of this condition, which can progress quickly and become severe, and we continue to recommend pregnant women get screened for preeclampsia,” task force member Dr. Maureen Phipps, a women’s health researcher at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, said by email.
Preeclampsia is a relatively common high blood pressure disorder in pregnancy, affecting approximately 4 percent of pregnancies in the U.S., according to the draft Task Force statement.
In addition to elevated blood pressure, women with preeclampsia may also have excess amounts of protein in their urine, as well as swelling in the feet, legs and hands… Read More>>
Source: Reuters
