INVC,,
Delhi,,
Women who have hypertension during pregnancy are at increased risk of developing atherosclerosis when they are older said Padma Shri and Dr B C Roy Awardee Dr. KK Aggarwal, President, Heart Care Foundation of India.
In a study Published in Hypertension Dr. Siamak Sabour, of the University Medical Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands, said that hypertension in pregnancy acts as a kind of “nature’s cardiovascular stress test” showing proneness to future disease. Gestational Hypertension Leads to 57% Increased Risk of Calcification
Gestational hypertension normally resolves following birth, and blood pressure returns to normal. But women with elevated blood pressure during pregnancy are at higher risk of hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease later in life. Sabour and colleagues evaluated 491 healthy postmenopausal women selected from participants enrolled in the PROSPECT (Predictors of Response to Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy) study from 1993-1997. Women with a history of gestational hypertension had an almost 60% increased risk of having coronary calcification several decades later compared with women who had normal blood pressure during pregnancy.
The relationship held for women who had mild elevations in blood pressure during pregnancy as well as for those who developed preeclampsia — a more serious complication of pregnancy characterized by very high blood pressure, edema, and risk of organ damage.
Hypertension during pregnancy should be an alert for women.
“Up until now it has been assumed that high blood pressure subsides after pregnancy, and there was no structured follow-up of the women who experienced it.
Hypertensive disorders are common in pregnancy, affecting 2% to 35% of all pregnancies, and ranking among the leading causes of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Preeclampsia or gestational hypertension associated with proteinuria is particularly linked with an increased risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes for both the mother and the fetus.
