How often does maternal preeclampsia-eclampsia incite thrombocytopenia in the fetus?

Overt thrombocytopenia (defined as a platelet count of less than 100,000/microL) was not identified at or soon after delivery in any of 262 infants of mothers with hypertension induced or exacerbated by pregnancy. The platelet counts were 100,000 to 149,000/microL in 11 (4.2%) of the offspring and 150,000/microL or higher in the rest, even though the platelet counts of the 258 mothers were less than 150,000/microL in 77 (30%), less than 100,000/microL in 51 (20%), and less than 50,000/microL in 17 (7%). Some infants of hypertensive mothers did develop overt thrombocytopenia later; however, the frequency and intensity appeared to be no greater than it was in infants with similar complications (prematurity, growth retardation, infection, and meconium aspiration) whose mothers were normotensive. We conclude that the fetus whose mother has preeclampsia-eclampsia is very unlikely to be thrombocytopenic during labor and delivery, even when the mother is thrombocytopenic. Therefore, neither cesarean delivery to avoid labor nor scalp blood platelet counts during labor need be performed.