Early Pregnancy Blood Pressure Patterns May Forecast Future Hypertension Risk

New Delhi: A new study published in the journal Hypertension suggests that blood pressure patterns observed during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy—even in women without hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP)—may help predict their risk of developing hypertension up to 14 years after childbirth.

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which remains the leading cause of death worldwide. While women who develop pregnancy-related hypertensive conditions like preeclampsia and gestational hypertension are already known to face increased heart disease risk, this new research shines a light on another group—those who had normal pregnancies but still face elevated long-term health risks.

Led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, the study analyzed data from 174,774 women who received prenatal care through Kaiser Permanente Northern California between 2009 and 2019. Importantly, none of the women had pre-existing hypertension, cardiovascular, liver, or kidney diseases, nor a history of preeclampsia.

Over the course of 14 years, the researchers tracked participants’ health outcomes and identified six distinct blood pressure patterns, or "trajectories," from ultra-low to elevated-stable. They found that women who exhibited the elevated-stable blood pressure trajectory during early pregnancy were significantly more likely to develop hypertension later in life.

What’s particularly noteworthy is that these risk patterns held true even among women who did not develop HDP. Those with elevated-stable patterns but no HDP had up to 11 times greater risk of developing hypertension than those with lower-risk blood pressure patterns.

“These findings challenge the assumption that only women with pregnancy complications are at future risk,” the researchers said. “We need to start thinking about early pregnancy blood pressure readings as a valuable tool for identifying women who may benefit from long-term cardiovascular monitoring and preventive care.”

The study underscores the importance of personalized risk assessment during pregnancy, potentially paving the way for targeted surveillance and early interventions to prevent future heart disease in women.