Pulse wave velocity in high-risk pregnant women who subsequently developed early- and late-onset preeclampsia.

We conducted a prospective study in consecutive high-risk pregnant women with 8 to 34 weeks of gestation to evaluate the relationship between PWV and the subsequent development of early- and late- onset preeclampsia (PE). The cohort was divided in high PWV (defined by the top tertile) and normal PWV (the remaining two tertiles). PE were classified as late-onset PE and early- onset PE using a cut-point of 34 weeks of gestation. The risk of women with high PWV for early- and late-onset PE was compared with women with normal PWV using multinomial regression. Two hundred and sixty-three high-risk pregnant women (mean age 30 ± 7 years, with 26 ± 7 weeks of gestation at the evaluation) were included in the study; 7.4%, 22.6%, 1.2%, 3.1% and 0.8% had antecedents of diabetes, chronic hypertension, chronic renal disease, collagen diseases and antiphospholipid syndrome, respectively. In previous pregnancies, 11.3% had had gestational diabetes and 22,6% hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Forty-six pregnant women (17.9%) developed PE, of which 31 (12.1%) were late-onset and 15 (5.8%) early-onset. Women with high PWV more frequently developed early-onset than late-onset PE (14.0% vs 11.8% p = 0.509). Unadjusted and adjusted OR for early-onset PE were 9.61 (95%CI 2.62-35.25) and 7.13 (1.89-26.71), respectively. In conclusion, in high-risk pregnant women, a high PWV value was related with ~7 times more risk for development of early-onset PE.