Hypertension during pregnancy can put mothers and babies at serious risk for life threatening problems before and after delivery.
More widely known as high blood pressure, hypertension during pregnancy is on the rise. Occurring in more than 7 percent of all pregnancies, hypertension can result in serious complications for both mothers and babies.
Hypertensive disorders experienced as a result of pregnancy includes both pregnancy-associated hypertension that begins during or after pregnancy. It also includes chronic hypertension that begins before pregnancy and can occur up to six weeks after the baby’s delivery.
The prevalence of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy is increasing. In 2017, it increased 13 percent. In 2019, it increased 16 percent. About a third of mothers who died during hospital deliveries had a pregnancy hypertensive disorder documented prior to delivery.
Overall, doctors estimate that hypertension during pregnancy has increased 25 percent over the past 20 years, with the number of pregnant women diagnosed with chronic high blood pressure doubling since 2008. This can be attributed to many factors including women having children later in life after the age of 35, obesity, kidney disease, diabetes and not having access to medical care for various reasons.
In mothers, hypertensive disorder can cause heart attacks, strokes, seizures and coma which are among the leading causes of pregnancy related deaths in the United States.
In babies, hypertensive disorder can risk premature birth, death, low birth weight and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit.
The study supports the recognition of maternal history of hypertension as a potential cause of early-onset hypertension in their children. “The long-term effects of hypertension in pregnancy were studied to quantify the risk of chronic hypertension that is passed on genetically to children,” says Virginia Dines, M.D., a nephrologist.
The study found that babies exposed to hypertension in the womb had significant health challenges as adults including having a 50 percent increased risk of developing chronic hypertension later in life. Babies whose mothers had chronic hypertension before, during or after pregnancy had a 73 percent increased risk. While babies exposed to both factors had a 140 percent increased risk.
These findings found that the children of mothers with preeclampsia during pregnancy, a condition that can include high blood pressure, had an increased risk of stroke and other cardiometabolic disorders later in life. “Pediatricians should elicit this important history from the mothers of patients,” says Vesna Garovic, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic nephrologist and senior author.
In addition, people born from hypertensive pregnancies may need more heart health monitoring and screening and should be provided timely medical advice about diet, exercise, and other lifestyle measures to reduce their risk.
To help combat the rise in pregnancy related hypertension, doctors recommend the following preventative measures:
- Get early medical care. Ideally, mothers should begin seeing a doctor when they are planning to become pregnant rather than waiting to see a doctor until they are pregnant.
- Once pregnant, keep regularly scheduled medical appointments.
- Pregnant mothers should monitor their blood pressure at home. Report any changes to their doctor immediately.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Exercise and stay physically active.
- Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet. Keep salt intake low. Avoid processed foods.
- Avoid smoking and drinking alcohol.
- Get adequate sleep. Many pregnant mothers need more than the recommended 8 hours and may benefit from up to 10 hours of sleep or more.
- Practice stress-reducing techniques such as meditation, prayer or quiet time.
- Pregnancy women should talk to their doctor about the benefits of taking a low-dose aspirin. As with all medication, it should not be taken my anyone without consulting with a doctor.
Although hypertension during pregnancy is a serious and growing problem, it can be managed by mothers if they consult their doctors and follow recommended guidelines.
This research was supported by MayoClinic.org, National Institutes of Health and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
