Simple urine test allows for rapid diagnosis of preeclampsia

Researchers with the Ohio State University College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital have found that a simple urine test can rapidly detect one of the world’s deadliest pregnancy-related conditions, which could have a major impact on global health.

In an effort to reduce illness and deaths among expecting mothers and their unborn children, maternal-fetal medicine and perinatal physician-researchers designed a rapid tool to identify preeclampsia using an affordable and non-invasive clinical “red dye-on paper” test. It was piloted in a clinical study at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. The results are published in Lancet’s E-Clinical Medicine.

“This is the first clinical study using the point-of-care, paper-based Congo Red Dot (CRD) diagnostic test, and the mechanism proved superior in establishing or ruling out a diagnosis of preeclampsia,” says Dr. Kara Rood, first author on the collaborative project and maternal-fetal medicine physician at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. “Our findings will have a huge impact on the health of women and children.” 

Currently, preeclampsia is identified by high blood pressure and elevated proteins in the urine. The disorder is the number one reason physicians decide to deliver children prematurely and is responsible for approximately 18 percent of maternal deaths in the U.S. 

“Preeclampsia affects up to 8 percent of pregnancies. The challenge is that it’s a progressive disease and not everyone progresses at the same rate,” says Rood, who is also a professor of maternal-fetal medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. “Some women can have the disease for weeks before having symptoms, whereas other women can progress to a dangerous level within days.”

These findings confirm that the CRD test is a simple, “sample in/answer out” clinical tool that allows for very accurate and rapid diagnosis of preeclampsia, Rood says.

If undetected, preeclampsia can lead to eclampsia, one of the top five causes of maternal and infant illness – including seizures and coma – and the cause of 13 percent of maternal deaths globally.

Pregnant women may be induced and unborn children delivered early, even if there’s just suspicion of preeclampsia.  Premature birth is also a concern because it increases the risk of learning disabilities, cerebral palsy and blindness in newborns.

Rood says in addition to clinicians using this test during prenatal appointments, she also sees this as an easy tool for pregnant women in underdeveloped countries that lack resources.

The Congo Red Dot test was developed by Drs. Irina and Catalin Buhimschi while at Yale University and has been licensed to a commercial company.