Despite its importance, the placenta is a very misunderstood organ and is notoriously difficult to study in pregnant women. A new Cambridge University study has shown hormone levels in the placenta can identify early on which women will develop potentially life-threatening disorders in pregnancy. If the mother’s body can’t adapt to the growing baby, this leads to major and common issues including poor foetal growth, foetal overgrowth, gestational diabetes and ­pre-eclampsia – life-threatening high blood ­pressure in the mother. Pregnancy disorders affect around one in 10 women, but current methods to diagnose them are not sensitive or reliable enough to identify all at risk. They found they could diagnose complications such as gestational diabetes, allowing ­treatment to begin more quickly.

Source: Daily Mirror July 19, 2021 18:03 UTC