Wright E, et al. - In this study, the disease burden of placental maternal vascular malperfusion pathology in a low-risk nulliparous population was determined. Researchers, in addition, tested the hypothesis that a multiparameter model in the second trimester can predict maternal vascular malperfusion with high precision. Findings revealed development of maternal vascular malperfusion placental pathology in 1 in 12 healthy nulliparous women. These pregnancies seemed to have a 4.5 times higher risk of developing preeclampsia or delivering a small for gestational age (SGA) neonate compared with those without this pathology. They recognized that the multiparameter model predicted placental maternal vascular malperfusion with modest precision. However, the majority of adverse perinatal outcomes were not explained by this disease. The low population-attributable risk of this placental pathology for SGA and preeclampsia suggested the significance of discovering novel associations to decrease the disease burden of these pregnancy complications.