Blood pressure patterns in early pregnancy can predict hypertension risk years later

High blood pressure is a risk factor for heart disease, the leading cause of death.

The study, appearing in the journal Hypertension, focusses on a group of postpartum women who are not currently recognised as being at high risk for future hypertension and cardiovascular disease because they did not develop HDP during pregnancy.

HDP includes serious complications such as preeclampsia and gestational hypertension during pregnancy and is known to increase the risk of heart disease later in life.

The team led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, in the US, 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.

The study followed 174,774 women who received prenatal care at a US-based healthcare non-profit Kaiser Permanente Northern California between 2009 and 2019.

None of these women had hypertension, kidney, liver, or heart disease, or a history of preeclampsia before pregnancy. Researchers tracked their health records up to 14 years after delivery to identify new cases of hypertension.

The team identified six distinct risk groups of blood pressure trajectory -- ranging from ultra-low to elevated-stable patterns. Women with elevated-stable blood pressure patterns were found to be at the highest risk.

This study shows that blood pressure trajectories during early pregnancy can stratify this risk, even for women without HDP.

The study showed that these blood pressure patterns could differentiate risk levels among women with and without HDP.

Among groups of women who did not develop HDP, those with higher-risk blood pressure patterns -- including elevated-stable patterns -- during early pregnancy were still 11 times more likely to develop hypertension years later than those women with less risky blood pressure patterns.

The researchers called for identifying women at higher risk, offering targeted surveillance and early interventions, potentially preventing future heart problems.