We thank the authors for their letter and for their interest in our study.
Based upon the comments and queries of the authors, we have conducted further analyses. We have conducted an analysis based on grouped maternal age (<20, 20-34, and ≥35 years) and on gestation at birth (<34, 35-36, and ≥37 weeks). This gestation is the birth gestation and, therefore, not necessarily the gestation at which diagnosis was first made or when the eclamptic episode occurred. It can be seen in the Table that early onset preeclampsia rates have actually increased (16.1-22.6%) between the years 2000 through 2008 in this cohort and have not remained steady as the authors speculated. In line with conclusions which both ourselves and the authors have made reference to, rates of preeclampsia at term have fallen over the time period of the study.
| Variable | Preeclampsia | Eclampsia | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year of event | Year of event | |||||
| 2000 | 2008 | P value | 2000 | 2008 | P value | |
| Maternal age, y | ||||||
| <20 | 3.3% | 2.5% | < .001 | 7.0% | 4.7% | .85 |
| 20-34 | 76.5% | 71.8% | .02 | 76.7% | 90.5% | .09 |
| ≥35 | 20.2% | 25.6% | < .001 | 16.3% | 4.8% | .08 |
| Gestation at birth, wk | ||||||
| <34 | 6.3% | 8.8% | .03 | 11.1% | 14.0% | .69 |
| 35-36 | 9.8% | 13.8% | < .001 | 13.3% | 11.6% | .80 |
| ≥37 | 83.9% | 77.4% | < .001 | 75.6% | 74.4% | .89 |
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