If you're a new mom, your own heart health may be the furthest thing from your mind, but if you're a preeclampsia survivor, it's something you and your physician should discuss. Why? Because research has shown that preeclampsia, along with a few other pregnancy complications such as fetal growth restriction and preterm birth, may predict your future heart disease. 

Studies have found the following associations between pregnancy complications and cardiovascular disease: 

• A history of preeclampsia increases future risks of high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke, blood clots, and kidney disease.
• Women who have repeat or severe preeclampsia, or preeclampsia accompanied by still birth are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease than women who have high blood pressure only and during a single pregnancy. 
• Women who had growth restricted babies or who delivered preterm were found to have higher blood pressure 18 years after ...

By Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway ~ October is Patient Centric Care Month, a term you will likely see more of as our healthcare system moves further into the 21st century. What does 21st century healthcare look like? It means that all of your records will be computerized and not on paper. It means that you will receive your "chart" on a flash drive so that when if you leave your physician's office and go to a hospital, your health records remain with you. Gone will be the days when your labs will have to be repeated because no one can locate your prenatal chart. Repeating labs is not only annoying, it's costly.

"Patient Centric Care" means that the emphasis will no longer center on your physician. Or a hospital. Or an ambulatory care center. It will be centered on you, the patient. Why? Because at the end of the day, if you're not well, if the outcome was less than expected, then the system has failed. The $2.3 trillion dollars spent each year on healthcare has not ...

Patient-centric care, a buzzword in healthcare reform, should be the obvious goal for any health care system. "What a concept," I utter with a hint of sarcasm. Put the patient at the center of the decisions, resources and desired outcomes?!

However, patient-centric care is also dependent on a related concept: the "empowered patient," a subject CNN medical correspondent and fellow preeclampsia survivor Elizabeth Cohen writes about in her column and book, The Empowered Patient, available in our Marketplace.

An empowered patient is one who has the information she needs to act proactively upon her preeclampsia symptoms. She also has an effective relationship with her care provider(s) so she can communicate her concerns, ask questions, comply knowingly with agreed upon treatments, ...

Every two years, the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy (ISSHP) World Congress brings together the top researchers and clinicians in the field of hypertension in pregnancy to share innovations and encourage collaborations in research and clinical practice. As in year's past, the Preeclampsia Foundation participated in the 2012 meeting held July 9-12 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Like the current Olympics which inspire us to "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Latin for "faster, higher, stronger"), the World Congress inspires participants to demonstrate new found knowledge and skills, and to push each other forward. In the enthusiasm of science-swapping and networking at a meeting like ISSHP, sometimes the larger purpose of our endeavors - saving lives and improving health outcomes of mothers and babies worldwide - may be forgotten by those racing from one intriguing lecture to the next.

That's where the Preeclampsia Foundation comes in. It is a ...

By Quincy Fleming ~ Physical activity is something that my husband and I have always enjoyed, so it is only natural that my children have also gravitated towards endurance sports. It takes a lot of time and creative scheduling to get workouts in, but instead of trying to keep the workouts and family time separate, we find all kinds of crazy ways to include our two children. In fact, my husband and I are currently training for an Iron Distance Triathlon. Why, you might ask?

My children and I are preeclampsia survivors. And while we are lucky to have escaped with our lives, our health, our sanity, I know that we are at a heightened risk for heart disease, diabetes, obesity. It seems every lifestyle disease out there carries an extra punch for us. So we asked ourselves: why not embrace healthy lifestyles and exercise as part of our everyday family time?

Unfortunately, because the life that includes raising small children is demanding and time consuming, ...

The hypertensive complications of pregnancy are divided into four distinct classifications: Preeclampsia/eclampsia, Chronic hypertension, preeclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension, and gestational hypertension. Many people are perplexed by the term "superimposed preeclampsia" which is preeclampsia complicating hypertension of another cause, most commonly chronic or "essential" hypertension. However women with hypertension associated with ...

On May 24, 2012, the U.S. Senate passed the Food and Drug Safety and Innovation Act, which reauthorizes funding for activities related to the drug and device approval process at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  The legislation also includes requirements and provisions for faster review of new and innovative therapies in order to allow patients to be able to access these therapies more quickly.  The next step is for the U.S. House of Representatives  to pass the bill, and then a final bill will go to the President for signature.

During debate on the Senate bill, Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) spoke on the necessity of finding ways to strengthen and improve the FDA’s review process of new and innovative diagnostic tests, including biomarkers. While biomarkers are not specifically addressed by the legislation, during his remarks, Senator Warner specifically cited preeclampsia as an example of why the country needs to move biomarkers forward and develop a ...

That was my goal with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I was given to present one of three President's Program lectures at the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists' Annual Clinical Meeting.  

"Patient Perspectives on Preeclampsia" - or as I joked, "lessons from this side of the stirrups" - was well-received by the standing-room-only crowd in the main auditorium of the San Diego Convention Center.  More importantly, the many comments I received after the lecture satisfied me that I achieved my objective - to reach their hearts with compelling, real-life stories illustrating the impact preeclampsia has on mothers, fathers, and babies; and to reach their minds by inspiring clinical practice behaviors that include educating each and every expectant mother with non-alarmist, but sound information about the ...

Professors Chris Redman and Isabel Walker, co-authors of Pre-eclampsia: The Facts (Oxford University Press 1992) and co-founders of Action on Pre-eclampsia (APEC) in the UK, are seeking input from members of the Preeclampsia Foundation for their latest book, The Pre-eclampsia Survival Guide.

The new book, also co-authored by Joyce Cowan, a midwife who is Director of New Zealand APEC (NZAPEC), will be a comprehensive guide to pre-eclampsia for women and midwives. It will cover everything from historical theories to current treatments; from causation to detection; from prevention to management. It will be rooted very firmly in the real experiences of women who have suffered pre-eclampsia - and that's where you come in.

The authors are keen to illustrate their key points with real life case histories gathered from several different parts of the world. You could be part of this process by contributing to