The pre-eclampsia community guideline (PRECOG): how to screen for and detect onset of pre-eclampsia in the community

The pre-eclampsia community guideline is discussed. A pre-eclampsia community guideline is needed because pre-eclampsia is a major cause of poor outcome in pregnancy: the category "hypertensive diseases of pregnancy" remains a leading cause of direct maternal deaths in the UK; pre-eclamptic conditions represent one in three cases of severe obstetric morbidity; hypertension and/or proteinuria is the leading single identifiable risk factor in pregnancy associated with stillbirth (one in five stillbirths in otherwise viable babies); and pre-eclampsia is strongly associated with fetal growth restriction, low birth weight, preterm delivery, respiratory distress syndrome, and admission to neonatal intensive care.