Manchester Researchers are to trial a ground-breaking screening test for pre-eclampsia, a potentially life-threatening condition affecting pregnant women and their unborn babies.
The Screen and Treat with Aspirin to Reduce Pre-eclampsia (STARshiP) study is led by researchers from Saint Mary’s Managed Clinical Service, part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), in collaboration with The University of Manchester and the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Nottingham.
With the study of 200,000 women and their babies, STARshiP represents one of the largest endeavours in pregnancy screening research.
Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and sponsored by The University of Manchester, the trial aims to transform antenatal care of the condition.
Pre-eclampsia is a condition that affects some pregnant women, usually during the second half of pregnancy (from 20 weeks) or soon after their baby is delivered.
Early signs of pre-eclampsia include having high blood pressure and protein in the urine.
Though the condition occurs in up to 8% of pregnancies, there are currently few ways to predict which patients may be at risk.
With the aim of improving the detection of women at higher risk of developing the condition and offering aspirin as a preventative treatment, the STARshiP study will quantify the benefit of the screening, offered by the researchers at the same time as the early pregnancy scan.
