prevelancy of HELLP

[jean]

Does anyone know how common HELLP is? My OB said that the doctors here see cases of it every month...I am curious as to whether he's grouping HELLP with pre-e or if he truly sees HELLP patients that often.

[catherine]

About 10% of pregnancies are affected by hypertensive issues, about 5% will be complicated by preeclampsia. About 1% end up with HELLP syndrome. Not as uncommon as people think but I've met many OBs who had relatively small, low risk practices, who considered it extremely rare. I was fortunate that Lucy was delivered at the main academic hospital in the state where we were living, with board-certified MFM attendings and a level III NICU. Consequently, they were quite famililar with all manifestations and saw at least one severe case/month.

[atvlady]

Me personally I think the statistics are much higher then what doctors say. You have to look at what percent is not diagnosed or undiagnosed. My OB said all of the sick pregnant women are sent to them so they see and can accuratley diagnose these syndromes. Knowledge and communication is key.

[jenmatt1]

I have lived in 3 states since having HELLP with my daughter- all have been in fairly metropolitan areas and it varies. I ask the docts how many cases they see a year- and how many have Class I HELLP- all the practices have been fairly large. The first told me they see 5-8 cases a year. The second OB told me she personally had never seen 1 and her practice saw 3 in one year (didn't stay with them very long). My current OB here in Florida says it sees about 10 cases a year and a lot more PE. 3 of the 7 docs in the practice have had PE in at least 1 of their pregnancies so it makes me feel more comfortable that they take my concerns seriously.

When I did have my daughter in Connecticut- I got put in the special maternity suite for high riskers- with a million doctors visiting me throughout the day. It was a teaching hospital and I was a rare sight for them to see for lots of reasons- Class I HELLP, my daughters heart started racing so we had a million neonatal docs and pediatric cardiologists in the room to monitor to me until I got into delivery room.

I think it is important to ask the doctors how many specifically they see with HELLP a year - not just PE - because my symptoms were very different with HELLP. I did not have Blood pressure issues right up until the end. My biggest issues were my liver & kidney function and my platelets dropping substantially.