PREGNANCY Area nurse conducts study

The condition can cause problems for the mother or lead to early delivery.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
HUBBARD -- A Hubbard nurse is heading up a $1,250,000 National Institutes of Health study at Magee-Women's Research Institute in Pittsburgh to determine whether daily walking during pregnancy can reduce the risk of developing preeclampsia for women who have had the condition in previous pregnancies.
Preeclampsia, also known as toxemia, is characterized by high blood pressure and protein in the urine. Symptoms can include swelling of the arms and face, headaches and double vision. Preeclampsia can result in kidney or liver damage for the mother and can lead to premature delivery.
Dr. Thelma E. Patrick, principal investigator for the National Institute of Nursing Research-funded study, "Exercise Intervention to Reduce Recurrent Preeclampsia," said that 20 percent of women who have preeclampsia in one pregnancy will encounter the same complication in another pregnancy.
"Researchers at MWRI believe that exercise is likely to help reduce the chances that preeclampsia will strike again, since exercise is such an important factor in reducing cardiovascular disease, and both disorders have many similarities," she said.
Patrick, in the third year of a five-year study, is still recruiting eligible women for her study.
Advantages to participants
Patrick said there are advantages to becoming part of her study. It gives the mother frequent contact with a person to talk with to help solve problems and answer questions. Participants also receive $20 at each of three visits, a $50 gift certificate, and when they deliver, there is a gift for the baby.
Study participants are randomly split into walking and nonwalking groups. Women in the walking groups get assistance from the research staff in establishing and monitoring their walking program. They use a device to count steps, not distance. The long-term goal is 10,000 steps a day, equivalent to about five miles. However, the walking program is structured to help pregnant women establish a more active lifestyle in general, Patrick said.
All women in the study receive health information and frequent contacts with a nurse, she said.
Women who want to take part in the study should contact Michele Ondeck, study coordinator, at (412) 641-3306or by e-mail at mondeck@mail.magee.edu.Helping out
Kim Kocher of Pittsburgh, an intern in the exercise science program at Youngstown State University, assisted Patrick this summer and is the study's exercise physiologist. Kocher, who graduated Saturday with a degree in exercise science and a minor in management, said she has a special interest in women's health, particularly pregnant women.
Patrick, in the Department of Health Promotion and Development at the University of Pittsburgh, has been principal or co-investigator in a number of previous studies, and wants to eventually to conduct a study on childhood obesity.
She teaches at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, mostly master's and doctoral courses, and was a clinical nurse at Sharon General Hospital, Jameson Memorial Hospital, and St. Elizabeth Hospital for 20 years.
She was also an instructor at the Youngstown State University Department of Nursing, and a limited service faculty in the nursing department at YSU during the 1980s.
alcorn@vindy.com