A 31-year-woman has attended prenatal clinic during her first pregnancy. She has been noted during the third trimester to have a slowly rising blood pressure along with the appearance of ankle edema and proteinuria. Coexistent features often seen with her disease include which of the following?
A. twin pregnancies and hydatidiform moleB. young multigravida status
C. hypothyroidism
D. orthostatic hypotension
Answer. A. Twin
pregnancies and hydatidiform mole
Twin pregnancy carries nearly a 4-fold increased risk of preeclampsia,
independent of race and parity, and the risk of a nulliparous twin pregnancy is
14 times that of a parous singleton pregnancy. Any pathophysiologic model for
preeclampsia needs to account for the risk twin pregnancy poses as well as
other risk factors, such as nulliparity and molar pregnancy.
