High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy Boosts Lifetime Heart Risk

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The U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute estimates that 6 percent to 8 percent of American women develop unusually high blood pressure during pregnancy. Some go on to develop a condition called preeclampsia, which can damage the placenta, kidney, liver and brain. A more serious condition, called eclampsia, is a leading cause of pregnancy-related mortality.

The increase in calcification in the Dutch study was seen not only in women who developed preeclampsia but also those with high blood pressure, Hayes noted.

"It is a sign that you need to be more careful about your risk of heart disease down the road," she said.

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The women themselves and their physicians should be aware of their increased risk, said Dr. Daniel Jones, dean of the University of Mississippi School of Medicine and president-elect of the American Heart Association.

"In women who have had hypertension during pregnancy, there needs to be careful monitoring of cardiovascular risk factors, to [help them] be prepared appropriately to manage those factors," Jones said. "These women should be doing what we all should be doing -- keeping their weight in a good range, exercising, not smoking, eating a diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables."

The study, he said, "is a new way of looking at an issue that we have long suspected is a problem: that women who have hypertension in pregnancy are more likely to develop hypertension later in life, and hypertension is a known risk of vascular disease."

More information

There's more on high blood pressure at the U.S. Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

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