Studying Pregnancy’s VAscular and Retinal Changes (SPARC)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating cardiovascular function in pregnancies with Gestational Hypertension using ultrasound imaging
IRAS ID
347685
Contact name
Colin Murdoch
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Dundee
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 6 months, 31 days
Research summary
High blood pressure during pregnancy, affects about 12% of pregnancies. This can lead to serious problems during pregnancy, e.g. restriction of the baby’s growth or life threating complications for the mother. At the most serious extent it can lead to pre-term birth or loss of mum and/or baby. Women that have high blood pressure during pregnancy are likely to develop heart and blood vessel problems later in life. It is important to know who might get heart and blood vessel problems later in life.
Small blood vessels play an important role in blood pressure disorders. Retinal imaging is currently used to identify changes in the tiny blood vessels of people who have had a stroke or diabetes and can be used for early detection.
This study will investigate if imaging of small blood vessels can help measure the health of blood vessels in during pregnancy can identify those who are at risk of gestational hypertension.
The research goal is to explore the use of retinal imaging, ophthalmic ultrasound and blood tests to evaluate small blood vessels' function and structure during pregnancy. This will help better understand if women with gestational hypertension have dysfunction in their small blood vessels.
We intend to study women during pregnancy to see if there are signs of blood vessel dysfunction before development of gestational high blood pressure.
We will use new monitoring methods which are quick and easy which could in the future improve the identification of women who are likely to have complications during pregnancy.REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
25/NS/0033
Date of REC Opinion
10 May 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion