Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Apr;15(2):114-21.
doi: 10.1007/s11906-013-0329-4.

Preeclampsia and the future risk of hypertension: the pregnant evidence

Vesna D Garovic  1 , Phyllis August
Affiliations
Review

Preeclampsia and the future risk of hypertension: the pregnant evidence

Vesna D Garovic et al. Curr Hypertens Rep. 2013 Apr.

Abstract

Cardiovascular death rates continue to rise for women under age 55, underlying the importance of focusing on female-specific conditions that may increase cardiovascular risk, including pregnancy-related disorders. Hypertension complicates about 5-10 % of pregnancies. Preeclampsia, a pregnancy-specific condition, is characterized by hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation and remains one of the major causes of maternal deaths in the United States. In addition, preeclampsia may have an impact on women's health beyond their pregnancies, and has been associated with increased risks for future hypertension and cardiovascular disease, such as coronary heart disease and stroke. In this review, we discuss the evidence supporting the association between preeclampsia and future hypertension; possible mechanisms that underlie this association; current approach to women with a history of preeclampsia; and future research that is needed in this field in order to deliver optimal and timely medical care to the affected women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Possible mechanisms underlying the association between preeclampsia and future hypertension. These two conditions share common risk factors, such as oxidative stress and hypercoagulability, which could result in preeclampsia and hypertension/CVD at different times in a woman’s life. Alternatively, preeclampsia may result in irreversible metabolic and vascular changes that may contribute to the risk of developing hypertension/CVD later in life.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. anonymous. Report of the National High Blood Pressure Education Program Working Group on High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy [comment] American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2000;183(1):S1–S22. - PubMed
    1. Kuklina EV, Ayala C, Callaghan WM. Hypertensive disorders and severe obstetric morbidity in the United States. Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2009;113(6):1299–1306. This paper examines trends in the rates of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy in the USA in 1998–2000, and reports that the number of delivery hospitalizations with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy is increasing, and that these hospitalizations are associated with a substantial burden of severe obstetric morbidity. - PubMed
    1. Meekins JW, Pijnenborg R, Hanssens M, McFadyen IR, van Asshe A. A study of placental bed spiral arteries and trophoblast invasion in normal and severe pre-eclamptic pregnancies. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 1994;101(8):669–674. - PubMed
    1. Khong TY, De Wolf F, Robertson WB, Brosens I. Inadequate maternal vascular response to placentation in pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia and by small-for-gestational age infants. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 1986;93(10):1049–1059. - PubMed
    1. Genbacev O, Zhou Y, Ludlow JW, Fisher SJ. Regulation of human placental development by oxygen tension. Science. 1997;277(5332):1669–1672. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources