A nephrology work-up for undiagnosed chronic kidney disease (CKD) may be warranted for women who experience preeclampsia during pregnancy, according to investigators.
In a retrospective study of 282 pregnancies at 2 centers (in Le Mans, France, and Cagliari, Italy) complicated by preeclampsia, investigators found a 19% prevalence of newly diagnosed CKD at each center, much higher than an expected prevalence of 3% among women of childbearing age, Gianfranca Cabiddu, MD, of Brotzu Hospital in Cagliari, Italy, and colleagues reported in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation.
“This finding supports the need for including a nephrology work-up for all patients who have experienced an episode of [preeclampsia],” the authors concluded.
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The study is the first large multicenter study on the prevalence of CKD in women with preeclampsia, Dr Cabiddu and colleagues noted.
The investigators defined CKD according to KDOQI guidelines, urinary alterations or low estimated glomerular filtration rate at least 3 months after delivery, or morphologic changes.
Patients diagnosed with CKD were significantly older compared with patients who had no evidence of CKD (37 vs 31 years), according to the investigators.
The study excluded women with known CKD and those giving birth to more than 1 infant during a single delivery.
Reference
Cabiddu G, Mannucci C, Fois A, et al. Preeclampsia is a valuable opportunity to diagnose chronic kidney disease: a multicentre study. Kidney Int. Published online August 2, 2021. doi:10.1093/ndt/gfab225
