High Blood Pressure May Put Pregnant Women and Unborn Child At High Health Risk

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is one of the leading health problems currently being faced in today's society. What's worse is that having high blood pressure can eventually lead to some more serious health complications or perhaps even death. Now, a new study from China reveals that women who suffer from high blood pressure during their pregnancy put both themselves and their child at a high risk of future health problems.

It is not known what the optimal blood pressure of women is when they are pregnant, says a report from Reuters Health. However, during any of a woman's prenatal checkups, they will be informed if they are at risk of developing hypertension and other related conditions if ever their blood pressure is abnormally high.

"In general, healthy blood pressure usually falls at or below 120/80 mmHg," says the study's lead author, Dr. Jian-Min Niu. The threshold for high blood pressure, or hypertension, is 140/90 or greater. The range between 'healthy' and 'high' blood pressure is sometimes called pre-hypertension because readings at the high end of normal may be a stage on the way to full-fledged hypertension," adds Niu.

Researchers from the Guangdong Woman and Children Hospital in Guangzhou studied 506 pregnant women with no history of high blood pressure or diabetes. Throughout their pregnancy 13 percent of them had their blood pressure increase to levels that are considered higher than normal. This could put both the women and their children at risk of future health complications.

309 of the subjects from the study were given follow-up tests, which showed that 35 of them developed metabolic syndrome. Having this syndrome means experiencing at least three of these symptoms: waist circumference of 35 inches or greater, elevated triglycerides, low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, blood pressure of 135/85 or higher and elevated blood sugar.