Unaffected Memory and Inhibitory Functioning Several Weeks Postpartum in Women with Pregnancy Complicated by Preeclampsia.

Several studies reported impaired cognitive functioning after pregnancy complicated by preeclampsia. The present study examined cognitive and executive functioning in women with preeclampsia at a time at which immediate effects of gestation have resolved, brain damage due to other risk factors have not yet manifested, and impairments may thus primarily occur as a result of the huge stress induced by the potentially life threatening condition. Verbal learning/memory (California Verbal Learning Test) and inhibitory functioning (Mittenecker Pointing Test) of 35 women with preeclampsia and 38 women with uncomplicated pregnancy were followed over five measurement time points during the period from 16 to 48 weeks postpartum.