The role of sleep and cardiorespiratory control in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/153886

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

Pre-eclampsia occurs in 7-10 % of the pregnant population. This makes it one of the most common diseases associated with pregnancy in the Western world. The cause of pre-eclampsia remains elusive, however, recent research suggests that the initiating factor is abnormal implantation of the placenta into the uterus. This in turn leads to poor flow of blood through the placenta (known as placental ischaemia) resulting in release of mediators (including substances known as cytokines) into the maternal circulation which cause widespread damage to the endothelium (the protective layer of cells which line all of the blood vessels throughout the circulation). Furthermore, the greater the demand on the placenta, the more of these toxic substances will be released into the maternal circulation. During sleep, a large proportion of pregnant women snore and consequently have partial reduction in the volume of each breath. In women with healthy placental function, this is not a concern. However, we suggest that in women with pre-eclampsia, this results in further disruption to the blood flow through the placenta, which leads to a greater output of toxic substances from the placenta. We have shown that by controlling snoring during pregnancy in women with pre-eclampsia with the use of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nasal CPAP), we are able to markedly reduce blood pressure over the night. In this project, we would like to investigate changes occurring during sleep in cytokines in the maternal circulation, and in maternal blood pressure both on and off nasal CPAP in order to establish whether a mechanism during sleep is contributing to the disease process of pre-eclampsia. Furthermore, we intend to investigate whether the long term use of nasal CPAP improves the outcome of pre-eclampsia.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2001

End Date: 01-01-2002

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $235,095.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Respiratory Diseases

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Cardiorespiratory control in sleep | Cardiovascular disease | Pre-eclampsia | Sleep disordered breathing

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