Preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication typically associated with high blood pressure, is estimated to affect around one in every 12 pregnancies and is a leading cause of both maternal and fetal mortality, as well as long-term complications for survivors.
According to data cited by the CDC, the condition is responsible for more than 70,000 maternal deaths and 500,000 fetal deaths around the world every year, with Black women disproportionately affected in the U.S. in particular.
In the face of those daunting statistics, Mirvie is helping lead the charge to educate people about how preeclampsia can be prevented.
The startup—which is currently developing a blood test that would predict a pregnant person’s risk of preeclampsia months before symptoms first arise—threw its support behind the creation of the first clinical care plan targeting preeclampsia prevention and, in honor of May’s Preeclampsia Awareness Month, has adapted that care plan into an educational toolkit that it’s sharing through a newly launched campaign.
The “Preeclampsia Prevention is Possible” campaign site, housed on Mirvie’s own website, includes a collection of downloadable resources aimed mainly at helping clinicians better recognize the early signs of the condition and shape their care plans for high-risk patients. It also includes links to the official care plan and to Mirvie’s own research on preeclampsia risk prediction.
“Preeclampsia is often viewed as a complication with limited ability to intervene early and lower the risk of developing the condition,” Eleni Tsigas, CEO of the Preeclampsia Foundation, said in a statement. “However, all year long, and especially during Preeclampsia Awareness Month, we’re amplifying the message that we are in an era where we can better predict, prevent, and prevail over the adverse outcomes caused by preeclampsia.
"Providers have tools in the preeclampsia toolbox to work proactively with their patients to prevent this serious pregnancy complication and decrease its lifelong health effects.”
Among the campaign’s resources are posters reminding clinicians that “prevention is possible” and highlighting common signs and symptoms of preeclampsia.
There’s also a short checklist for doctors outlining the major steps for staving off the complication in high-risk patients—grouped into “monitoring,” “medication and labs” and “nutrition and lifestyle” categories—and a longer discussion guide for patients that goes into much more detail about the steps within those three categories, with more information about how each action could help prevent preeclampsia.
The entire toolkit was based on the care plan, billed as the first of its kind for preeclampsia prevention. It was first published in a special report in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology last year and was a group effort by preeclampsia experts, survivors, advocacy groups and payers.
Their goal was to compile all research-based prevention tactics in one straightforward plan, separated into recommendations for doctors around risk assessment and both pharmacological and behavioral changes to prescribe; and recommendations for patients to guide their discussion with doctors and keep an eye out for their own possible symptoms.
Among the research linked on the “Preeclampsia Prevention is Possible” campaign site is an early 2022 study showing that the RNA platform powering Mirvie’s blood test was able to correctly spot 75% of pregnancies that later went on to develop preeclampsia, several weeks ahead of time.
Later that year, Mirvie earned the FDA’s breakthrough device designation for its test, which will clear some obstacles from its path toward regulatory clearance. Since then, as of last November, the company has completed enrollment on a 10,000-person study of its RNA platform.
“Driven by technology to predict preeclampsia months in advance, there will be a major shift from reactive to proactive care in how we manage and hopefully prevent preeclampsia,” CEO Maneesh Jain said in a statement in this week’s campaign announcement. “With objective, personalized data, pregnant patients can finally know their risk, create a plan and work with their care team to take every possible measure to prevent preeclampsia.”