pre-eclampsia

According to the NHS website, pre-eclampsia affects some women during pregnancy or soon after their baby is delivered, with early signs including having high blood pressure.

In this way, Dr Chrastil says, "we can determine whether any of these changes could help predict things like postpartum depression or understand how something like pre-eclampsia could affect the brain".

A pregnant woman may also be at risk if she is pregnant for the first time, is 35 or older, has a body mass index greater than 30, or has a family history of pre-eclampsia.

“I’ve started to ask the patient's parents, ‘When you were pregnant, did you have pre-eclampsia, hypertension or diabetes?’

Scientists have grown "mini-placentas" in a laboratory to help them better understand pre-eclampsia.