What is a risky pregnancy

A risky pregnancy has a negative impact on the baby or the mother. If the mother is underage, underweight, suffers from certain diseases or ingests toxic substances, these are factors that can promote it.

What is considered a risky pregnancy?

A risky pregnancy, as stated by experts in Gynecology and Obstetrics, is a pregnancy that associates factors that can have a negative impact on the health of the mother or the fetus.

Problems that a high-risk pregnancy can cause for the baby and the mother

For the baby, it mainly has repercussions in terms of an increased risk of prematurity and alterations in fetal birth weight.

For the mother it increases the chances of hypertensive complications associated with pregnancy or risk of obstetric hemorrhage and maternal death.

Factors related to an at-risk pregnancy

  • Maternal age less than 15 years or greater than 35 years
  • Maternal weight less than 45 kg, maternal obesity or maternal height less than 160 cm.
  • Maternal diseases such as hypertension, diabetes or thyroid disorders.
  • Exposure to toxic risk substances, such as alcohol, tobacco or drugs.
  • Currently, motivated by social and labor conditions. The delay of conception beyond the age of 35 and, in many cases, over the age of 40, as well as assisted reproduction treatments, with the risk of multiple pregnancy, are two main factors in the genesis of maternal and fetal obstetric pathology.
Read Now 👉  Menopause: a natural transition in a woman's body

Treatment for at-risk pregnancy

Ideally, it should be treated in the preconception consultation, in order to correct the risk factors before pregnancy.

During pregnancy it should be treated by means of close clinical monitoring, control laboratory tests and obstetric ultrasound scans.

New diagnostic and therapeutic strategies aimed at detecting the risk of premature delivery and preeclampsia (a complication associated with hypertension caused by pregnancy) have been available for some time now. The performance of analytical tests and specific ultrasound controls as early as the 12th and 20th week of pregnancy, allows us, in addition to establishing an early risk prediction, to implement specific therapeutic strategies that significantly reduce the rate of these complications.