Lifesaving early pre-eclampsia screening to be rolled out in bid to reduce risk of preterm births

A new screening program will be rolled out to test pregnant WA women for the risk of pre-eclampsia — with a daily dose of aspirin all it takes to prevent a condition that can cause serious complications including premature birth. Currently, most women are not screened for the condition in early pregnancy, meaning if they develop pre-eclampsia, the only way to stop the high blood pressure condition is by giving birth early. Pre-eclampsia accounts for one in 10 preterm births and comes at great risk to the baby with preterm birth being the single greatest cause of death and disability in young children in Australia. The University of WA and King Edward Memorial Hospital launched a program in 2014 as a world-first attempt to safely lower rates of harmful early birth. The program reduced preterm births at KEMH by 20 per cent, prompting the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance to be formed and rolled out across the country in 2018. The alliance has reduced preterm births by 6.5 per cent in Australia and is hoping to prevent even more when it introduces an early pre-eclampsia screening for women 11 to 14 weeks pregnant. The screening involves measuring average blood pressure, blood testing, and checking how well oxygen and nutrients are being delivered to the baby. King Edward Memorial Hospital is offering pre-eclampsia screenings at its Preterm Prevention Clinic for pregnant women as early as 11 weeks gestation but APBPA chair John Newnham said he is hoping to see this eventually rolled out Australia-wide. “Pre-eclampsia is very common and its potentially very serious but the only treatment is to deliver women with the condition early and that can be as early as 24 weeks gestation,” he said. “If we do this screening we can predict 90 per cent of the women who will get pre-eclampsia and then we’ve got a very effective treatment, which is just a simple low dose of aspirin taken every evening until 36 weeks. “We think this will have a very beneficial effect in further reducing preterm birth rates.” Greenfields mother Jessica Hatton had to undergo an emergency caesarean section just hours after she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. This meant her daughter Charlotte was born at 28 weeks gestation. “When they pulled her out she cried, which was a massive relief because we obviously didn’t know how she would be,” Ms Hatton said. “Multiple doctors have said to us that if we hadn’t have gone to the hospital when we did that she wouldn’t be here today.” The following months after Charlotte’s birth were filled with hours of travel and not getting to take their newborn home as she spent 51 days in the NICU. Ms Hatton said the screening would mean more mothers would not have to go through that experience. “Leaving her in the hospital was just not natural. That first time leaving her was the hardest and it’s not something anyone should have to do,” she said. “If I had the screening it would have made me feel more confident to go into the hospital potentially sooner. “This screening would be such a beneficial thing.”