ST GEORGE Hospital is conducting a world-first clinical trial into pre-eclampsia, a serious disorder of pregnancy.
It is recruiting around 300 women who gave birth at the hospital.
Pre-eclampsia occurs in about 10 per cent of births at St George.
It is characterised by high maternal blood pressure, protein in the urine and severe fluid retention and can be fatal to mothers and their babies.
The St George and Sutherland Medical Research Foundation contributed $50,000 to the trial.
The trial aims to identify long-term risk factors of pre-eclampsia by studying healthy women and those who had pre-eclampsia during pregnancy.
Women in the latter group are more likely to develop diabetes, heart attacks and stroke, lead investigator, obstetrician Associate Professor Gregory Davis said.
"No one really knows what happens to normal women that have had babies because most of the data on blood pressure and things is based on massive studies done usually on old men," he said.
"What we're trying to see is if you study them straight after pregnancy, whether there are ways of picking up and determining which ones are going to go on and have those problems," he said.
Pre-eclampsia causes blood flow to the placenta to become sluggish, which, in severe cases, can starve the baby of oxygen and nutrients.
If left untreated, it can lead to convulsions, kidney and liver failure, clotting, or death.
St George Hospital midwife Lynne Roberts knows all too well how life-threatening it can be.
She had pre-eclampsia 22 years ago, and is one of 11 investigators with the study.
"Apparently my husband and parents were told the next 48 hours would tell whether I would still be here or my son would still be here."
"Ever since that experience I've had this passion to work around women who have pre-eclampsia or high blood pressure," Ms Roberts said.
"I moved into the research field about 12 years ago and we've done other studies around other topics but we've always had something on the go about hypertension in pregnancy."
The clinical trial will investigate the physical and emotional health of mothers, and the physical health and development of their baby at six months, two years and five years after birth.
Have you had pre-eclampsia?