Levels of antibodies against cytomegalovirus and Chlamydophila pneumoniae are increased in early onset pre‐eclampsia

Objective The origins of pre‐eclampsia/eclampsia lie in a mismatch between feto‐placental demands and utero‐placental supply, a situation that also arises in normotensive intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Could reactivated chronic infection be both a trigger for these differential maternal responses to the same underlying pathology and a link between pre‐eclampsia and its attendant lifelong risks of atherosclerosis? Design Nested case–control study. Setting Tertiary obstetric centre. Population Cases of pre‐eclampsia, normotensive IUGR and controls. Methods A nested case–control study of serum from a population‐based bank was performed. Seroprevalence and levels of anti‐cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Chlamydophila pneumoniae immunoglobulin G (IgG) were compared (non‐parametrically) between women with early onset pre‐eclampsia (