

HELLP syndrome is a group of physical changes including the breakdown of red blood cells, changes in the liver, and low platelets (cells found in the blood that are needed to help the blood to clot in order to control bleeding). HELLP syndrome is a complication of severe preeclampsia or eclampsia. Eclampsia occurs in about one in 1,600 pregnancies and develops near the end of pregnancy, in most cases. Women with eclampsia have seizures resulting from the condition. Preeclampsia is diagnosed when a woman with gestational hypertension also has increased protein in her urine.Įclampsia is a severe form of preeclampsia. Gestational hypertension is diagnosed when blood pressure readings are higher than 140/90 mm Hg in a woman who had normal blood pressure prior to 20 weeks and has no proteinuria (excess protein in the urine). It is more common in twin pregnancies, in women over the age of 35, in women with chronic hypertension or who had hypertension in a previous pregnancy, in African-American women, and in women with diabetes. This condition occurs often in young women with a first pregnancy. Gestational hypertension can develop into preeclampsia. Another type of high blood pressure is chronic hypertension-high blood pressure that is present before pregnancy begins. It occurs in about 6 percent of all pregnancies. Gestational hypertension is a form of high blood pressure in pregnancy.
