Related links: Diagnosis / Management

Preeclampsia is a disease found only in pregnancy, and is more common in first pregnancies, in women with pre-existing hypertension or kidney disease, other medical conditions, and with multiple gestation. Obstetricians define mild and severe preeclampsia as follows:

Mild preeclampsia

• Gestational hypertension (Blood pressure 140/90 on 2 occasions 6 hours apart) and protein in the urine (proteinuria). To determine if the amount of protein in the urine is significant, your physician will have you collect all urine for a 24 hour period.
• Instructions for collecting a 24-hour urine: at the start of the collection, empty your bladder but do not save that urine. Then for the next 24 hours, save all urine in the container provided. This will be tested to see how much protein is in the sample. More than 300 milligrams of protein (along with the blood pressure mentioned above) is required for a diagnosis of mild preeclampsia.

Severe preeclampsia

For preeclampsia to be termed "severe", any of the following would suffice:

• Blood pressure more than 160/110 on 2 occasions 6 hours apart while at bed rest

• More than 5 grams of protein in a 24 hour urine collection

• Making less than 400cc of urine in 24 hours

• Symptoms of:
  • visual disturbance - flashing lights or blurred vision
  • abdominal pain, especially on the upper right side
  • persistent severe headache

Lab tests can also be used to diagnose severe preeclampsia.

• Thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), less than 100,000

• Abnormal blood tests for liver function