Pregnancy complication raises risk of blood clots

LONDON - Women who suffer from the serious complication of pre-eclampsia during pregnancy have a higher risk of developing blood clots, say Canadian scientists.

Pre-eclampsia is marked by dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy and can lead to eclampsia, which endangers mother and child.

Researchers at the Ottawa Health Research Institute in Canada, who studied nearly 13,000 women who had suffered from pre-eclampsia, found they were more than twice as likely as other women to suffer from a blood clot in the leg or lung within three years of giving birth..

"Patients who have had pre-eclampsia should be aware that they are at an increased risk of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) and they should be aware of the symptoms of the problems," said Carl van Walraven, an epidemiologist at the institute.



Women who have unexplained swelling of a leg, chest pain and shortness of breath, which could be signs of DVT or PE, should consult their doctor.

Van Walraven, who reported his findings in the British Medical Journal, said other studies had shown that women with pre-eclampsia had genetic disorders that were associated with an increased risk of clots. Doctors do not know what causes pre-eclampsia, which results from constricted vessels that supply blood to the brain. It usually occurs after the 20th week of pregnancy.

It occurs in about one in 10 pregnancies and is more common in first and twin pregnancies and in women who have a family history of the condition.

- REUTERS