Preeclampsia's link to small blood vessel changes in the midlife brain
Official title: Preeclampsia and the Brain: Small vessel disease and cognitive function in early midlife
Funded at Magee-Women's Res Inst and Foundation · NIH-11238479 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether women who had preeclampsia during pregnancy show early small-vessel changes in the brain and related thinking differences in midlife.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Magee-Women's Res Inst and Foundation NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Pittsburgh, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | February 1, 2022 |
| Project end | November 30, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $932,658 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AG072646-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11238479 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Women in early midlife who previously had preeclampsia, especially those with available pregnancy or placental records or concerns about memory, are the best fit.
✕Less likely to help
People who never had a pregnancy or who did not experience preeclampsia are unlikely to gain direct benefit from this specific project.
What this research studies
If you had preeclampsia, researchers will compare your brain scans and thinking tests to women who did not have preeclampsia to see if small blood vessel changes are present in midlife. The team will use imaging measures like cerebrovascular reactivity and cognitive testing, and link those findings to pregnancy records and placental signs of vascular problems. The work builds on a small pilot that found blood-flow differences after preeclampsia and will enroll a larger midlife group to confirm whether those changes persist and relate to thinking skills. This is an observational effort aimed at finding early signs that could point to future dementia risk in women with prior preeclampsia.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the project could identify early brain blood-vessel changes after preeclampsia that help target monitoring or prevention to lower later dementia risk.
How similar studies have gone: Small prior work, including a pilot of about two dozen women, found similar cerebrovascular and cognitive differences after preeclampsia, but larger confirmatory studies are still limited.
Where this research is happening
-
Magee-Women's Res Inst and Foundation
Pittsburgh, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Catov, Janet M — Magee-Women's Res Inst and Foundation
- Study coordinator: Catov, Janet M
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.