LAUSR

The current checklist method of screening for early onset pre-eclampsia is poor and should be replaced with a method combining maternal factors and various easily measured biomarkers, say researchers. The authors of a prospective multicentre study published in Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology said that using this alternative method could double the detection rate of preterm pre-eclampsia.1 When pre-eclampsia leads to preterm birth before 37 weeks’ gestation the risk for complications is particularly high. Pre-eclampsia complicates 2-3% of pregnancies and is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in mothers and of perinatal death and impairment in babies. Recent evidence suggests that giving low dose aspirin to women at high risk of the …