Hypertensive disorders, such as pre-eclampsia (PE), affect approximately 13.5% of pregnancies in the UK, which equates to around 80,000 women. Uncertainty in diagnosis of, and prognosis in, PE may lead to late diagnosis or, more frequently, unnecessary hospitalisation of women who do not go on to develop the condition. Therefore, there is an unmet medical need for short-term prediction or rule-out of the condition in pregnant women with suspected PE. A disease-specific biomarker accurately predicting maternal and neonatal complications in suspected PE cases would facilitate the decision-making of clinicians regarding monitoring and treatment.
In May 2016 the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its guidance recommending the Elecsys sFlt-1/PlGF ratio test for use to help rule-out PE in women between 20 weeks and 34 weeks plus 6 days’ gestation.
A recently completed interventional study (INSPIRE) evaluated the real-life performance and clinical utility of the Elecsys sFlt-1/PlGF ratio test. The authors of this study found that its use in combination with current clinical guidelines enables clinicians to safely discharge women with confidence that they will not develop PE within the next seven days, while ensuring those who needed it receive a high level of care.