News: Pregnancy blood pressure patterns linked to hypertension over a decade later, study shows

Blood pressure patterns observed during the first half of pregnancy can help predict hypertensive disorder in women up to 14 years after giving birth, a new American Hospital Association (AHA) study suggests.

The study, “Early pregnancy blood pressure trajectories and hypertension years after pregnancy,” was published in Hypertension and examined a cohort of women who did not have any history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP).

According to the press release, the researchers followed 174,774 women who received prenatal care at Kaiser Permanente Northern California between 2009 and 2019.

According to the authors of the report, “The research found 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.”

Among these groups of women, those who exhibited elevated-stable patterns during the first half of their pregnancy were “11 times more likely to develop hypertension later in life” than those in possession of “less risky” blood pressure patterns.

“Early-pregnancy BP trajectories are strongly associated with new-onset hypertension years after pregnancy,” the authors concluded. “Combined with HDP, they may stratify risk for targeted surveillance and early interventions and improve the prediction of cardiovascular disease risk in women.”

Editor’s note: To read the AHA press release, click here. To read the Hypertension study, click here.