Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Pre-eclampsia

Proteinuria in pre-eclampsia—does it matter any more?

Ongoing research continues to show only moderate accuracy of all methods of measuring proteinuria in pregnant women with hypertension. We need to change traditional thinking so that emphasis on the detection or quantitation of proteinuria is not greater than emphasis on other clinical or laboratory features in the diagnosis or management of pre-eclampsia.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Chesley, L. C. Hypertensive Disorders in Pregnancy 1st edn 17–34 (Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Lindheimer, M. D. & Kanter, D. Interpreting abnormal proteinuria in pregnancy: the need for a more pathophysiological approach. Obstet. Gynecol. 115, 365–375 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Benton, S. J. et al. Angiogenic factors as diagnostic tests for preeclampsia: a performance comparison between two commercial immunoassays. Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 205, 469.e1–469.e8 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Saudan, P. J., Brown, M. A., Farrell, T. & Shaw, L. Improved methods of assessing proteinuria in hypertensive pregnancy. Br. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. 104, 1159–1164 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Hypertension in pregnancy: the management of hypertensive disorders during pregnancy [online], (2010).

  6. Morris, R. K., Riley, R. D., Doug, M., Deeks, J. J. & Kilby, M. D. Diagnostic accuracy of spot urinary protein and albumin to creatinine ratios for detection of significant proteinuria or adverse pregnancy outcome in patients with suspected pre-eclampsia: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 345, e4342 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Côté, A. M. et al. Diagnostic accuracy of urinary spot protein:creatinine ratio for proteinuria in hypertensive pregnant women: systematic review. BMJ 336, 1003–1006 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Chan, P., Brown, M., Simpson, J. M. & Davis, G. Proteinuria in pre-eclampsia: how much matters? BJOG 112, 280–285 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Homer, C. S., Brown, M. A., Mangos, G. & Davis, G. K. Non-proteinuric pre-eclampsia: a novel risk indicator in women with gestational hypertension. J. Hypertens. 26, 295–302 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Berks, D., Steegers, E. A., Molas, M. & Visser, W. Resolution of hypertension and proteinuria after preeclampsia. Obstet. Gynecol. 114, 1307–1314 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Brown, M. Proteinuria in pre-eclampsia—does it matter any more?. Nat Rev Nephrol 8, 563–565 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2012.190

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2012.190

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing