Use of a steroid in the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition for use in the therapeutic or prophylactic treatment of a hypertensive pregnancy disorder (HDP) or fetal growth retardation, said treatment comprising administering to a female mammal a pharmaceutical composition comprising a steroid selected from the group consisting of: substances represented by the following formula in which R1, R2, R3, R4 are independently a hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group or an alkoxy group with 1-5 carbon atoms, each of R5, R6, R7 is a hydroxyl group, no more than 3 of R1, R2, R3, R4 are hydrogen atoms, precursors capable of releasing a substance according to the aforementioned formula when used in the present treatment, said precursors are derived from steroids mentioned where the hydrogen atom of at least one of the hydroxyl groups has been substituted by an acyl radical of an acid hydrocarbonic, sulfonic or sulfamic carboxylic acid of 1-25 carbon atoms, tetrahydrofuranyl, tetrahydropyranal, or a straight or branched chain glycosidic residue with 1-20 glycosidic units per residue, and mixtures of one or more of the substances and / or precursors previously mentioned.Utilización de un esteroide en la preparación de una composición farmacéutica para ser usada en el tratamiento terapéutico o profiláctico de un trastorno hipertensivo del embarazo (HDP) o retraso del crecimiento fetal, comprendiendo dicho tratamiento la administración a un mamífero femenino de una composición farmacéutica comprendiendo un esteroide seleccionado del grupo constituido por: sustancias representadas por la siguiente fórmula en la cual R1, R2, R3, R4 son independientemente un átomo de hidrógeno, un grupo hidróxilo o un grupo alcoxi con 1-5 átomos de carbono, cada uno de R5, R6, R7 es un grupo hidróxilo, no más de 3 de R1, R2, R3, R4 son átomos de hidrógeno, precursores capaces de liberar una sustancia según la fórmula mencionada cuando se utiliza en el presente tratamiento, dichos precursores se deriv
