A new study shows high blood pressure is becoming more common during pregnancy.
The Centers for Disease Control says the number of pregnant women being diagnosed with high blood pressure has increased 60% since 2016.
That makes it a major contributor to maternal illness and death.
Experts say uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to serious complications like organ damage, pregnancy-related emergencies, and greater risk of heart disease.
Dr. Jamil Elfarra with Norton maternal-fetal medicine says in his experience, this increase is likely caused by two issues.
Number one, a lot of patients are now choosing to get pregnant later on, which increases their chances of having high blood pressures in pregnancy and many have an overweight problem, or an obesity problem. Both of these, when we combine it together, can mean starting out with elevated blood pressures to begin with.
Dr Elfarra explained that when they first evaluate a mother, they do lab work to make sure the mother is in a “good position” starting out in pregnancy. He said that means making sure they kidneys and heart are functioning well.
He also said there is a medicine that is critical for anyone known to be chronically hypertensive, and that is Aspirin.
He explained aspirin has been shown to decrease all of these potential issues of chronic hypertension in pregnancy and the increased risk of preeclampsia, which is when your blood pressure goes up as a result of pregnancy, so Aspirin is really critical, and that is usually started at 12 weeks.
High blood pressure can also affect the baby’s development, increasing the risk of stillbirth, preterm birth and other complications.
Doctors say warning signs include new swelling, sudden weight gain, vision changes, headaches and stomach pain.
Source: WAVE
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