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New blood test may help detect pre-eclampsia in the first trimester
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Preeclampsia can be a life-threatening complication of pregnancy, but a new blood test can help predict a woman's risk of developing the condition in the first trimester, the company that makes the test has said.
It is the first test in the U.S. that can be used between 11 and 14 weeks of pregnancy to detect the risk of preeclampsia up to 34 weeks, Labcorp said in a press release announcing the launch of the test.
"By providing healthcare providers with another tool to assess the risk of preeclampsia in their pregnant patients using objective biomarkers, we are advancing prenatal care and improving outcomes for mothers and their babies," said Labcorp's chief medical and scientific officer, Dr. Brian Caveny, in a press release.
About one in 25 pregnancies in the U.S. is complicated by preeclampsia, which is even more dangerous for black women, who are 60% more likely to have the condition than white women, the company noted.
However, some doctors question how much it will help.
"It is currently unclear how useful Labcorp's test will be in accurately predicting the risk of developing preeclampsia and whether it is appropriate for all pregnant patients," Dr. Christopher Tsang, interim CEO of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), told CNN.
"Before a screening test can be used successfully, there needs to be an evidence-based intervention to either prevent or reduce the impact of the disease. Currently, we have no data on how to reduce the risk of a pregnant patient who is predicted to have preeclampsia by an early pregnancy blood test compared to clinical factors," Tsang added.
Another doctor echoed these concerns.
"The usefulness of the test in patient management has not yet been proven, and it is not clear that it helps more than it may harm. It is not clear that using this test is better than current standards of prenatal care," Dr. Christian Pettker, chief of obstetrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital, told CNN.
"It's not clear to me that this is appropriate for all patients who are pregnant in the first trimester. Perhaps the most applicable group may be patients who have had preeclampsia in a previous pregnancy, although these patients are already at high risk and are often monitored differently in their pregnancy," Pettker added.
Preeclampsia: Symptoms and Treatments
Preeclampsia is characterized by high blood pressure, high levels of protein in the urine, or other signs of organ damage. The condition usually occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
There is no cure for preeclampsia other than giving birth, although severe cases can be controlled with medications, including blood pressure lowering drugs.
The new test measures the risk of preeclampsia with up to 90% sensitivity and 90% specificity, according to Labcorp. Sensitivity is the ability to detect high-risk pregnancies, while specificity is the opposite.
Labcorp is in talks with health insurers about whether to cover the test, Caveny said, adding that it costs about $240. The test works by measuring four biomarkers associated with the risk of preeclampsia.
Potential impact on patients
Eleni Tsigas, CEO of the Preeclampsia Foundation, told CNN that such a test could have "significantly" changed her experience with her first pregnancy if it had existed in 1998.
Tsigas was diagnosed with preeclampsia 11 weeks prematurely, and her daughter was stillborn due to complications from the condition.
"My daughter died and it was all because of a last minute emergency," she said.
But the new first-trimester screening test, "if done correctly, has the potential to eliminate these sudden cases" of preeclampsia, Tsigas added.
"This test faces coverage issues, and we need to make sure that all women, regardless of their socioeconomic status, know that this information should be available to everyone," she said. "If it is, it has the potential to reduce [racial] disparities in maternal and newborn health outcomes. These tests can really make a difference."