Report: Pregnancy-Related Hypertensive Disorders Doubled in 12 Years

By Jonathan Springston, Editor, Relias Media

The rate of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) among U.S. women doubled between 2007 and 2019. Today, adverse pregnancy outcomes (APO), including HDP, preterm delivery (PTD), and low birth weight (LBW), affect an estimated one in five births.

Researchers studied data from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics Natality Files to learn more about women who delivered babies between 2007 and 2019 while specifically looking for episodes of HDP (e.g., gestational hypertension, preeclampsia), PTD, and LBW. HDP events jumped from 38.4 per 1,000 live births in 2007 to 77.8 per 1,000 live births in 2019. Investigators also noted it appears HDP drive the incidents of PTD and LBW higher.

"Pregnancy can serve as a crystal ball for us to look into what may happen in the future for a woman's cardiovascular health,” said Priya Freaney, MD, an advanced cardiovascular fellow at Northwestern University and lead study author. “Even if your blood pressure goes back to normal after your pregnancy, it should still be seen as a warning sign and an important topic to be discussed with a doctor about how to optimize your heart health and prevent cardiovascular disease in the future."

Indeed, in a recently released NIH-funded study, the authors found women who experienced complications related to developing high blood pressure during pregnancy were 63% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease. Patients who were obese before pregnancy, along with those with a family history of stroke or heart disease, were at much higher risk of HDP. “Screening for chronic hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, type 2 diabetes, and overweight/obesity after pregnancy may be especially helpful in CVD prevention among women with a history of HDP,” the authors concluded.

For more on this and related subjects, be sure to read the latest issues of Clinical Cardiology Alert, Neurology Alert, and OB/GYN Clinical Alert.