Urine Test Can Help Predict, Diagnose Preeclampsia

Researchers have developed a simple urine test to rapidly predict and diagnose preeclampsia, a common, but serious hypertensive complication of pregnancy.

Named the "Congo Red Dot Test" by the research team from the Yale School of Medicine (New Haven, CT, USA; http://med.yale.edu), the test accurately predicted preeclampsia in a study of 347 pregnant women. The research was presented February 4, 2010, at the annual scientific meeting of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine (SMFM) in Chicago, IL, USA.

The World Health Organization estimates that about 63,000 pregnant women die each year because of severe preeclampsia, as well as a related condition called eclampsia, which can cause sudden, convulsive seizures. "There is a critical need in the developing world for low-cost diagnostics for preeclampsia,” said lead researcher Irina Buhimschi, M.D., associate professor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine. "This test will help identify high-risk patients that should be transported from remote settings to facilities where there is access to specialized care for preeclampsia, such as magnesium sulfate therapy.”

Dr. Buhimschi noted that despite its effectiveness in preventing eclamptic seizures, magnesium sulfate is underused in developing countries. This is due in part to the lack of consistent and low-cost ways to identify preeclampsia patients who are in need of intervention, which the test could provide. She stated that the test could also identify women who needed to deliver their babies immediately, in turn reducing the incidence of unnecessary early birth, because delivery is the only effective treatment for preeclampsia.

The investigators also found that the Congo Red Dot Test could be used as a marker for assessing misfolded proteins. The test is based on a common red dye, originally used to stain textiles, that sticks to misfolded proteins. Previous studies by Dr. Buhimschi and her team have found that preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific protein misfolding disease.

"In this new work, we have seen a link between preeclampsia and other disorders caused by misfolded proteins such as Alzheimer's or prion disease,” stated Dr. Buhimschi. "This may provide the foundation for new therapeutic approaches to reduce the burden of this disorder.”

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