Dr. Amit Jain, of Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh, and colleagues examined uterine artery Doppler waveforms to compare sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of diastolic notch, systolic-to-diastolic ratio, resistive index, and pulsatility index in predicting pregnancy-induced hypertension.
Jain's group included 150 women who had been pregnant but had not given birth, and 38 women who had given birth more than once; all of the women had a history of pregnancy-induced hypertension. The women underwent color Doppler at 16 to 20 weeks and again at 28 to 30 weeks. They were followed up until delivery to track any development of pregnancy-induced hypertension.
The group calculated the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of diastolic notch and other color Doppler indices, and they found that all of these parameters were statistically significant in predicting pregnancy-induced hypertension. This led Jain's team to conclude that using color Doppler sonography early in pregnancy can help predict hypertension and give clinicians time to apply appropriate therapeutic measures to reduce risk to women and their babies.
