According to a new study, hypertensive problems during pregnancy are associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular mortality for up to a year after delivery.
The most recent study’s results, which were published in the journal Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, show that all but gestational diabetes—conditions that commonly result in dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy—doubled women’s chance of dying from cardiovascular disease.
These conditions include eclampsia, superimposed preeclampsia, preeclampsia with severe characteristics, persistent hypertension, and gestational hypertension.
“Maternal and postpartum mortality rates in the U.S. are higher than in other high-income countries and rising, but more than half of cardiovascular disease-related deaths are preventable. This study provides new information about how each hypertensive disorder is related to fatal cardiovascular disease, so healthcare providers can monitor patients with such complications more closely and develop strategies for keeping them healthy postpartum,” Lead author Rachel Lee of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School stated in a news release that the study
Researchers assessed pregnancy-related death rates for females between the ages of 15 and 54 from 2010 to 2018 by looking through the Nationwide Readmissions Database.
Researchers found hypertensive problems in 11% of the more than 33 million delivery hospitalizations. Over time, the number rose, as the researchers observed.
Pregnancy-related hypertension diseases affected 9.4% of study participants in 2010. The news statement said that by 2018, that percentage had increased by more than half to 14.4%.
“We’ve gotten better at predicting, diagnosing, and treating preeclampsia in this country, so the risk of death is falling for any individual patient with that condition,” stated Cande Ananth, the study’s principal author.
But according to Ananth, the increased ability to treat chronic hypertension has been more than compensated by the substantial rise in the number of individuals who develop it.
“Cases of chronic hypertension are rising sharply among people of childbearing age, but optimal treatment strategies remain uncertain. While we’re treating more pregnant people with mild hypertension with antihypertensive medications, there remain many questions about the right definitions of hypertension in pregnant compared to non-pregnant individuals,” according to Ananth.
Heart disease symptoms can mirror regular pregnancy indications, thus expectant moms with high blood pressure conditions—especially those with pre-existing hypertension—need to be given extra consideration.
Postponed diagnosis may raise the risk of preventable consequences like strokes. Therefore, researchers emphasized the significance of prompt identification and appropriate treatment of high blood pressure problems, including preeclampsia-eclampsia.
