A team of researchers in Glasgow has begun a two-year study into links between a potentially fatal condition in pregnant women and heart disease.

The two-year project, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), will concentrate on the connection between pre-eclampsia and cardiovascular disease.

Pre-eclampsia is a disease that affects one in 10 women during their first pregnancy. Symptoms are high blood pressure, protein in the urine and fluid retention.

It can lead to maternal death and is also the most common cause of premature babies as the only known cure is delivery.

Pre-eclampsia can result in premature babies

The research team at Glasgow University has received �67,000 from BHF to examine whether there is a relationship in pre-eclampsia, as in other disease, between tissue fragments from blood vessel cells and an over-active blood clotting system.

The study will also allow the researchers to assess recent evidence that suggests pregnancy complications, particularly pre-eclampsia, may be an early sign of a patient's increased susceptibility to cardiovascular disease in later life.

The research team is led by Dr Dilys Freeman, lecturer in vascular biology at Glasgow University.

'Better understanding'

She said: "It is possible that these tissue fragments, or micro-particles, may be the link between placental dysfunction and the catastrophic metabolic disorders that can occur in women with pre-eclampsia.

"By finding out how they are formed and whether a high concentration of them is related to maternal blood vessel function and blood clotting, the team hopes to gain a better understanding of the role of micro-particles in pre-eclampsia."

BHF medical director Professor Sir Charles George said it was an important research project which would provide insights into pre-eclampsia sufferers' future susceptibility to cardiovascular disease.

He said: "The research findings may allow the early identification of women who are at risk of developing heart problems as a result of complications in pregnancy."