Women with a history of preeclampsia (PE) have increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD) later in life. Thus, PE is acknowledged as an independent risk factor for CVD, which is the number one cause of death in women in the western part of the world. Despite this, solid and uniform guidelines regarding follow-up after a pregnancy complicated by PE are lacking. Little is known about the time-course of the development of CVD and how early stages can be identified in women with previous PE. The link between PE and CVD is well established. However, no large clinical study using cardiac CT-scans exists. Moreover, the study will focus on the time-perspective of the development of CVD in relation to index pregnancy, and this knowledge may prove to be essential to establish solid clinical guidelines addressing timely prevention and treatment.
The purpose of this study is to investigate
1. The prevalence of CVD after PE,
2. Which women have the highest risk of developing CVD
3. When early stages of CVD can be detected in women with previous PE
4. How CVD progress over time.
Thus, we hope to identify a window of opportunity where screening and preventive measures may be relevant and potentially beneficial to these women.
A total of 1000 women with previous PE (aged 35-55 years) will be invited to participate in a clinical follow-up study consisting of anthropometric measurements, blood pressure measurement, urine- and blood samples, cardiac CT-scan (identifying coronary atherosclerotic changes) and questionnaires. These women will be compared to age-matched women, without previous preeclampsia investigated in the Copenhagen General Population Study with an identical CT protocol.
