No Hypertensive Disorder of Pregnancy; No Preeclampsia-eclampsia No Gestational Hypertension; No Hellp Syndrome. Vascular Disorder of Pregnancy Speaks for All

Abstract

Hypertensive disorders complicate 5%-10% of pregnancies with increasing incidence mainly due toupward trends in obesity globally. In the last century, several terminologies have been introduced todescribe the spectrum of this disease. The current and widely used classification of hypertensivepregnancy disorders was introduced in 1972 and in 1982, but has not been free of controversy andconfusion. Unlike other diseases, the existing terminology combines signs and symptoms, but does notdescribe the underlying pathology of the disease itself. In this commentary, a detailed account is given tovascular disorder of pregnancy (VDP) as an inclusive terminology taking into account the underlyingpathology of the disease on affected organs and systems. A simple and uniform classification scheme forVDP is proposed.