How does preeclampsia develop and does it confer future cardiovascular risk - Essay Example

The aim of the review is to arrive at the developmental causes of preeclampsia. Similarly, a large number of studies have reported linkages between preeclampsia and future cardiovascular disease. The evidence is suggestive, and a vast number of data produced is available on the subject. The present sysetmatic survey therefore focuses on an analysis of the literature with the objective of finding out conclusive evidence to establish that preeclampsia may pre-dispose to cardiovascular risk in the long term.

The systematic review involved gathering of available data through an extensive search and reading, critically evaluating all the research in terms of its methodology and scope and also exploring and recommending future studies that could be more effective towards addressing the research questions. It was found that a number of factors, like obesity, hypertension, abnormal insulin resistance, inflammation, cardio-vascular risk factors (as measured by serum levels of triglycerides, cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol, and blood pressure), increased Homocysteine, presence of periodontal disease among others, were observed in preeclamptic pregnancy.

However, the systematic review could not establish if these factors had a causative relationship to preeclampsia or if these factors were the manifestation of some other factors that also cause preeclampsia. The review also evaluated available evidence on cardiovascular risks and preeclampsia history. It was found that cardiovascular risk indeed has a larger than normal odds of having a history of preeclamptic episode. Again, it was not proved if preeclampsia pre-disposes to increased cardiovascular risk, or if preeclampsia and cardiovascular disease have the same pathogenesis.

Preeclampsia, Cardiovascular Disease,