Chronic high blood pressure in pregnant women on the rise – MahoningMatters.com

CLEVELAND Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, show 1 in every 3 American adults has high blood pressure.

And according to a recent study, the number of pregnant mothers with chronic high blood pressure is on the rise.

What were seeing is more and more women actually have chronic hypertension which is high blood pressure before theyre pregnant, said Dr. Salena Zanotti of Cleveland Clinic, who did not take part in the study. What this study showed was during the time frame that was studied, there was almost a 6 percent rise per year of women who had chronic hypertension.

Chronic high blood pressure, or hypertension, is a condition in which the force of blood pushing against the blood vessel walls is too high.

Uncontrolled hypertension greatly increases a persons risk for heart disease and stroke but the risks are even higher for pregnant moms.

Dr. Zanotti said chronic hypertension, at the start of pregnancy, increases a womans risk of developing preeclampsia a severe and significant disease that is harmful for both mom and baby.

She said its important for women to be the healthiest they can be before they conceive, because everything about a mothers health affects the health of her baby.

And getting chronic health conditions under control before pregnancy helps keep women healthy for years to come.

The important thing for women to also realize if you have high blood pressure and you are pregnant and develop more blood pressure problems it affects you down the road, Dr. Zanotti said. It increases your risk for strokes and heart attacks 10, 20, 30 years down the road.

Dr. Zanotti said many times, blood pressure can be controlled with a good diet, exercise and not smoking, but there are times when a person needs medication, too. There are some blood pressure controlling medications that are safe to take while pregnant, so its important for women with chronic hypertension to talk to their doctors.

Complete results of the study can be found here.

-- Story courtesy of Cleveland Clinic News Service

Link:

Chronic high blood pressure in pregnant women on the rise - MahoningMatters.com