THE INCIDENCE OF SEVERE PRE-ECLAMPSIA AMONGST MOTHERS AND MOTHERS-IN-LAW OF PRE-ECLAMPTICS AND CONTROLS

  1. A. Sutherland Research Student1,
  2. D. W. Cooper Associate Professor in Biology2,
  3. P. W. Howie Clinical Scientist3,
  4. W. A. Liston Consultant4,
  5. I. MacGillivray5

Article first published online: 23 AUG 2005

DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1981.tb01304.x

Issue

BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Volume 88, Issue 8, pages 785–791, August 1981

Additional Information

How to Cite

Sutherland, A., Cooper, D. W., Howie, P. W., Liston, W. A. and MacGillivray, I. (1981), THE INCIDENCE OF SEVERE PRE-ECLAMPSIA AMONGST MOTHERS AND MOTHERS-IN-LAW OF PRE-ECLAMPTICS AND CONTROLS. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 88: 785–791. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1981.tb01304.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Institute of Animal Genetics University of Edinburgh, Scotland

  2. 2

    School of Biological Sciences Macquarie University, North Ryde, Australia

  3. 3

    MRC Reproductive Biology Unit, Centre for Reproductive Biology 37 Chalmers Street, Edinburgh, Scotland

  4. 4

    Obstetrician and Gynaecologist Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Scotland

  5. 5

    Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology University of Aberdeen, Scotland

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 23 AUG 2005
  2. Article first published online: 23 AUG 2005
  3. Received November 11, 1980/Accepted March 3, 1981.

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Summary

In order to distinguish between a maternal, fetal or maternal and fetal genetic predisposition towards severe pre-eclampsia, the first pregnancies of 158 mothers and 160 mothers-in-law of pre-eclamptic women and of matched controls were analysed. Fourteen per cent of mothers of pre-eclamptics were found to have had severe pre-eclampsia, confirming previous suggestions that the condition‘runs in families', in contrast to only a 3% incidence amongst mothers of controls. The incidence in mothers-in-law of both pre-eclamptics and controls was 4%, in full agreement with a maternal genotype hypothesis and suggesting that the fetal genotype plays, at most, only a minor role in the aetiology of severe pre-eclampsia. The data are in agreement with the hypothesis that a single recessive gene acting in the mother could be responsible for severe pre-eclampsia, but multifactorial inheritance is not ruled out. Mild pre-eclampsia showed no such familial tendency, indicating that the mild and severe forms of pre-eclampsia may represent separate pathological entities.

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