Any Incidence of High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy affects Heart

Blood pressure should be kept under control during pregnancy for a healthy heart later in life, researchers say. According to them, women who experience any form of high blood pressure during pregnancy are at higher risks of many deadly diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, later in their life.

Previous studies have shown gestational hypertension leading to poor birth outcomes, including low birth weight and premature birth.  Until date, the risks were considered to be an after effect of pre-eclampsia, a condition that triggers hypertension. Women suffering from pre-eclampsia will have high blood pressure, fluid retention and protein in the urine, leading to an adverse impact on the growth of the unborn baby in the uterus.

However, the new study found that even a single incidence of high blood pressure in pregnancy poses health risks to mothers. For proving this point, the researchers included Finnish women, who gave birth in 1966 and followed them for more than 40 years. Of the total participants, one- third reported checking their blood pressure levels at least once during pregnancy.

Researchers found even a single incidence of high blood pressure in pregnancy increasing the risks of cardiovascular diseases (14 to 100 percent higher risks). They also found the sudden onset of this condition in pregnancy making women two to five times at higher risks of dying from heart attacks compared to those who had normal blood pressure in pregnancy.

Apart from that, they also found women whose blood pressure levels returned to normal after giving birth more likely to seek medical help to treat their high blood pressure and were at higher risk of being diagnosed with diabetes and kidney disease later.

"According to our findings, women who have had high blood pressure during pregnancy or who are diagnosed with high blood pressure in pregnancy for the first time might benefit from comprehensive heart disease risk factor checks by their physicians, to decrease their long-term risk of heart diseases," Dr.  Tuija Männistö, lead author of the study, said in a news release.

Results of the study have been published in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.

The findings come at a time when high blood pressure affects between six and eight percent of pregnant women in the U.S. Apart from posing health risks to the mother, the condition can affect healthy growth of children too.  Highlighting the risks, in Oct.2012, researchers from the University of Helsinki, Finland found high blood pressure during pregnancy lowers intelligence levels of children.