Mothers Recruited For Pre-Eclampsia Test

Researchers are recruiting pregnant women today to test whether vitamins could prevent them developing pre-eclampsia.

In what is thought to be the biggest trial of its kind in Britain, the baby charity Tommy's hopes to find out more about the condition, which can prove fatal for mother and child.

The nationwide study will give women at high risk of pre-eclampsia vitamin supplements - in an attempt to stop them developing the condition.

Pre-eclampsia, which affects up to 25,000 women in Britain each year, causes a pregnant woman's blood pressure to rise to dangerously high levels.

In 2001, pre-eclampsia killed 50 babies in England and Wales, and another 119 were stillborn. The symptoms of pre-eclampsia have been linked to the production of toxic molecules called free radicals by the placenta. It is thought that antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, can "mop up" these free radicals.

In the study, 2,400 expectant mothers with high blood pressure, kidney problems, clotting disorders or diabetes will be given extra reserves of the vitamin supplements.

The £1.3 million two-year study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, also aims to make sure giving mothers-to-be the extra vitamins does not harm their babies.

An initial study indicated that taking the vitamins early in pregnancy halved rates of pre-eclampsia in high-risk women.

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