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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nutr Rev. 2013 Oct;71(0 1):10.1111/nure.12055. doi: 10.1111/nure.12055

Table 1.

Classification of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

Mild preeclampsia
  • New onset of sustained elevated blood pressure after 20 weeks’ gestation in a previously normotensive woman (≥140 mm Hg systolic or ≥90 mm Hg diastolic on at least 2 occasions 6 hours apart

  • Proteinuria of at least 1+ on a urine dipstick or ≥300 mg in a 24 hour urine collection after 20 weeks’

Severe preeclampsia (above criteria plus any of the items listed)
  • Blood pressure ≥160 mmHg systolic or ≥110 mmHg diastolic

  • Urine protein excretion of at least 5 grams in a 24 hour collection

  • Neurologic disturbances (visual changes, headache, seizures, coma)

  • Pulmonary edema

  • Hepatic dysfunction (elevated liver transaminases2 or epigastric pain)

  • Renal compromise (oliguria or elevated serum creatinine concentration, ≥ 1.2 is considered abnormal in women with no history of renal disease)

  • Thrombocytopenia

  • Placental abruption, fetal growth restriction, or oligohydramnios

Eclampsia
  • seizures that occur in a preeclamptic women that can not be attributed to other causes.

Superimposed preeclampsia
  • sudden and sustained increase in blood pressure with or without substantial increase in proteinuria.

  • new onset proteinuria (≥300 mg in a 24 hour protein collection) in a woman with chronic hypertension and no proteinuria prior to 20 weeks’*

  • sudden increase in proteinuria or a sudden increase in blood pressure in a woman with previously well controlled hypertension in a women with elevated blood pressure and proteinuria prior to 20 weeks of gestation*

  • Thrombocytopenia, abnormal liver enzymes, or a rapid worsening of renal function

  • *Precise diagnosis is often challenging and high clinical suspicion is warranted given the increase maternal and fetal/neonatal risks associated with superimposed preeclampsia**

HELLP syndrome
  • presence of hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets. This may or may not occur in the presence of hypertension and is often considered a variant of preeclampsia

Gestational hypertension
  • New onset of sustained elevated blood pressure after 20 weeks’ gestation in a previously normotensive woman (≥140 mm Hg systolic or ≥90 mm Hg diastolic on at least 2 occasions 6 hours apart

  • No proteinuria