Early screening for preeclampsia: A myth or a reality?

Abstract

Preeclampsia (PE) is a hypertensive disorder in pregnancy affecting 2-8% of pregnancies worldwide and remains one of the leading causes of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. PE is characterized by hypertension and end-organ damage secondary to oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction, and vasoconstriction. The pathophysiology of the disease being elusive, early screening, diagnosis, and effective management of PE is challenging. Traditionally several predictive models including clinical and biochemical parameters have been used to stratify the risk of developing PE in pregnancy. Poor sensitivity and specificity of these models have been a limitation and has inspired the clinical world to explore more tools to screen and diagnose PE prior to the onset of clinical syndrome. This review attempts to highlight the recent developments in the newly developed screening tools and explores the future direction of preeclampsia screening research.