Cost-effectiveness of a randomized controlled trial comparing low-dose aspirin to placebo for the prevention of recurrent preterm birth.

To assess the cost-effectiveness of low-dose aspirin compared to placebo for the prevention of recurrent preterm birth from a healthcare perspective. This was a cost-effectiveness analysis alongside a multicenter, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. We included women with a singleton pregnancy and a previous spontaneous preterm birth <37 weeks of gestation of a singleton.

Follow up of intima-media thickness after severe early-onset preeclampsia.

Objective: Early-onset preeclampsia is associated with premature cardiovascular disease. We previously demonstrated that femoral intima-media thickness (IMT) and markers of cardiovascular disease were increased in women 1 year after early-onset preeclampsia. The current study measured (progression of) IMT, cardiovascular disease risk factors and markers of endothelial cell dysfunction 4-5 years postpartum in the same women.

Decreased arterial elasticity in formerly early-onset preeclamptic women.

Objective: Preeclampsia is associated with cardiovascular atherosclerotic events later in life. Impaired arterial elasticity is considered to be a marker of vascular (endothelial) dysfunction and to be involved in the atherosclerotic process. We investigated whether previously preeclamptic women have lower arterial elasticity indices in comparison with controls.

Skin autofluorescence as marker of tissue advanced glycation end-products accumulation in formerly preeclamptic women.

Condensation: In women with a history of preeclampsia skin autofluorescence as marker of tissue AGEs accumulation is increased, supporting a common causal metabolic or vascular link between preeclampsia and cardiovascular diseases.

Objective: To investigate whether skin autofluorescence (AF), as marker of tissue accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), is elevated in women with a 4-year history of severe preeclampsia.

Methods: About 17 formerly preeclamptic women and 16 controls were included.

Time development models for perfusion provocations studied with laser-Doppler flowmetry, applied to iontophoresis and PORH.

Objective: Clinical acceptance of laser-Doppler perfusion monitoring (LDPM) of microcirculation suffers from lack of quantitatively reliable signal data, due to varying tissue constitution, temperature, hydration, etc. In this article, we show that a novel approach using physiological models for response upon provocations provides quantitatively and clinically relevant time constants.

Methods: We investigated this for two provocation protocols: postocclusive reactive hyperemia (PORH) and iontophoresis shots, measured with LDPM on extremities.

Abnormal endothelium-dependent microvascular dilator reactivity in pregnancies complicated by normotensive intrauterine growth restriction.

Objective: Normotensive intrauterine growth restriction and preeclampsia share a similar placenta pathophysiology, whereas maternal clinical manifestations differ. Clinical symptoms of preeclampsia are partly attributed to vascular endothelial dysfunction, but it is unclear whether this phenomenon plays a role in intrauterine growth restriction. Therefore, we investigated microvascular endothelial function in women with intrauterine growth restriction.

Diffusion model for iontophoresis measured by laser-Doppler perfusion flowmetry, applied to normal and preeclamptic pregnancies.

We present a physical model to describe iontophoresis time recordings. The model is a combination of monodimensional material diffusion and decay, probably due to transport by blood flow. It has four adjustable parameters, the diffusion coefficient, the decay constant, the height of the response, and the shot saturation constant, a parameter representing the relative importance of subsequent shots (in case of saturation).

Women with a recent history of early-onset pre-eclampsia have a worse periodontal condition.

Objective: Pre-eclampsia is a complication of pregnancy characterized by systemic vascular dysfunction and pathological changes in placental arteries. Growing evidence of chronic infection as an aetiological factor in vascular diseases prompted us to study maternal periodontal disease in subjects with early-onset pre-eclampsia (<34 weeks).

Methods: A case-control study was carried out on 17 early-onset pre-eclamptic women and 35 controls with uncomplicated pregnancies in a period of 3-28 months postpartum.

Skin autofluorescence, a marker of advanced glycation end products and oxidative stress, is increased in recently preeclamptic women.

Objective: Advanced glycation end-products are considered to be markers of oxidative stress and to be involved in the atherosclerotic process. We investigated skin autofluorescence, which reflected advanced glycation end-product accumulation, in recently preeclamptic women and its relationship with intima-media thickness, which is a marker of atherosclerosis.

Study Design: Skin autofluorescence of the arm and leg was measured in 26 preeclamptic women and 17 control subjects at 3 to 13 months after delivery.

Increased intima-media thickness after early-onset preeclampsia.

Objective: Preeclampsia is associated with cardiovascular atherosclerotic events later in life. However, little is known about earlier subclinical signs of atherosclerosis. We aimed to investigate whether women who recently had preeclampsia show increased intima-media thickness (IMT), as marker of early atherosclerosis, compared with women with normal pregnancies or nulliparous women.

Abnormal endothelium-dependent microvascular reactivity in recently preeclamptic women.

Objective: To assess endothelial function at the level of skin microvasculature, using iontophoretic administration of acetylcholine (endothelium-dependent vasodilator) and sodium nitroprusside (endothelium-independent vasodilator), in women who recently had a preeclamptic pregnancy.

Methods: Microvascular skin reactivity was assessed by laser Doppler perfusion monitoring and iontophoresis of acetylcholine (ACh) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) in 25 women with a history of early onset preeclampsia and 23 women with previous uncomplicated pregnancies, all of whom were between 3 and 11 months postpartum.

Results: Mean (+/- standard error of the mean) ACh-mediated vasodilatation, expressed as a percentage increase in flux, was higher in women who recently had a preeclampsia than in controls (535 +/- 46% versus 314 +/- 29%, P < .