Keep It Down: Blood Pressure Checks Are a Lifesaver for Pregnant Women, Now More Than Ever

A new report on blood pressure risks for pregnant women is all over the news this week—that is, if you subscribe to health news alerts for “advanced maternal age” women. You don’t? We do, so listen up:

The rates of high blood pressure among pregnant women are going up significantly since the early ‘70s. according to a new study published in American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension.

The study looked at rates of chronic hypertension in pregnant women, i.e. high blood pressure that shows up in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. The report was based on a study of 150 million women between 1970 and 2010.

While the study doesn’t point to reasons for the rise, it notes that African American women as well as women of “advanced maternal age” are at significantly higher risk.

“There was a very, very striking advanced maternal age effect,” said Cande Ananth, the chief author of the study, as quoted in Physician’s Weekly. “Women are electing to postpone pregnancy. The mean age at which women become pregnant has increased by four to five years over a four-decade period. And we know that older maternal age is associated with hypertension.”

It’s important for women of all demographics to keep tabs on our blood pressure, but women who fit into one of the higher-risk categories should get a head start on talking to our doctors and managing the risk.

Chronic hypertension and gestational hypertension (the kind that happens after 20 weeks) are both risk factors for preeclampsia, a potentially fatal condition that kicks in late in pregnancy.

See more on that here, and most important of all, see your doctor and ask how to best keep tabs on and control your blood pressure throughout your pregnancy, and beyond.

Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash.