Blood Pressure Patterns in First Half of Pregnancy Can Identify Women at Risk of Hypertension

A study supported by the NIH found that “blood pressure patterns observed in the first half of pregnancy, even among women without hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), can identify women at greater risk of developing hypertension up to 14 years after giving birth.”

This study identifies a “new, previously undefined risk group of postpartum women who are not currently recognized as being at high risk for future hypertension and cardiovascular disease because they did not develop HDP during pregnancy.” When “the history of HDP was combined with women’s early pregnancy blood pressure patterns, these data together provide a new and improved tool for risk assessment.”

The study followed 174,774 women who received prenatal care between 2009 and 2019. None of them had “hypertension, kidney, liver, or heart disease, or a history of preeclampsia before pregnancy.” Their health records were tracked for up to 14 years after delivery to identify new cases of hypertension.

The research showed that “women who showed certain blood pressure patterns during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy were more likely to develop hypertension later in life. Six distinct risk groups of blood pressure trajectory were identified, ranging from ultra-low to elevated-stable patterns. Women with elevated-stable blood pressure patterns were at the highest risk.” Those with higher risk blood pressure patterns were “still 11 times more likely to develop hypertension later than those women with less risky blood pressure patterns,” even if they did not develop HDP.