BP elevated during pregnancy linked to higher risk of heart attack, stroke

Heart attack risk increases by 45% in hypertensive women during pregnancy

Women who suffer from high blood pressure during pregnancy or a more serious condition called pre-eclampsia present a much higher risk of heart attack and stroke.

According to a new study presented today at the British Cardiovascular Society conference in Manchester, the risk was estimated relative to women who did not experience these problems during their pregnancy.

The study included almost all women (97%) who had given birth in England over a period of 18 years with just over 276,000 (4%) of pregnancies with hypertension and 223,715 (3%) preeclampsia. The researchers studied the risks of over 15 different types of heart and circulatory diseases, ranging from heart attacks and strokes to heart failure and cardiomyopathy.

Preeclampsia in pregnancy has increased the risk of heart attacks three-fold and doubled the risk of cardiomyopathy

The team found that the risk of developing serious heart and circulatory disease increased by 45% if a woman had high blood pressure during pregnancy, or by nearly 70% for women with preeclampsia, compared to women with pre-eclampsia. the blood pressure was normal. during pregnancy.

A history of high blood pressure during pregnancy increased the risk of having the most common form of stroke (ischemic stroke) by 80% and doubled the risk of life-threatening cardiomyopathy, a family of diseases where the heart muscle is sick and becomes ineffective at the blood pump.

A history of pre-eclampsia during pregnancy has tripled the risk of heart attacks and doubled the risk of cardiomyopathy compared to women with normal blood pressure during pregnancy.

The more a woman had affected pregnancies, the more her risk of serious cardiac and circulatory complications increased. For example, women with two or more pregnancies with high blood pressure were twice as likely to have a stroke as those with normal blood pressure. Women who had two or more pregnancies with pre-eclampsia were nearly 4 times more likely to have ischemic stroke and 3 times more likely to have a heart attack, compared to women whose pregnancy was normal.

Pregnancy-related high blood pressure, or pregnancy-induced hypertension, is high blood pressure that begins for the first time when a woman is pregnant and usually disappears after childbirth. It can be mild (90-99 / 140-149), moderate (100-109 / 150-159) or severe (greater than 110/160).

Professor Metin Avkiran, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said, "This study does not show that high blood pressure or the development of preeclampsia during pregnancy mean that you are going to have a heart attack or stroke, but it raises important red flags. "

"Developing high blood pressure during your pregnancy could be an early sign of an underlying problem that could later lead to other heart and circulatory diseases," said Dr. Dawn Adamson, a cardiologist.