maternal history and uterine artery wave form in the prediction of early-onset and late-onset preeclampsia: a cohort study

Background: pregnancy induced hypertension (pih) is a significant cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. pregnancy-induced-hypertension can be prevented by identification of prenatal and antenatal factors. the uterine artery doppler waveform transforms into a high flow with low resistance at 22-24 wk. objective: to study the maternal risk factors and uterine artery doppler waveform in singleton mid-trimester pregnancy and predict the occurrence of pregnancy-induced hypertension. materials and methods: this is a cohort study comprising of doppler ultrasound examination of the uterine arteries at 20-23 wk gestation in 697 women with singleton pregnancies attending a routine target scan. the pregnant women were followed up. pih was recorded in 57 (8.18%) of all pregnancies. results: maternal age >34 yr, primiparity, the presence of chronic hypertension was also associated with increased risk of pih. high pulsatility index (>95th percentile) as compared to low pulsatility index was a good tool for the detection of pih (sensitivity 91.23% and specificity 99.06%, p<0.05). presence of high pulsatility was a significant risk factor for early-onset pih as compared to late-onset pih. conclusion: uterine artery doppler can be safely performed at the time of routine target anomaly scan in the second trimester. it is simple, economical, feasible and with good detection rates.