High BP during pregnancy could raise future stroke risk

Women with elevated BP during pregnancy have as much as a 40% increased risk for future stroke, according to research presented at the Canadian Stroke Congress.

Aravind Ganesh, MD, who presented the findings, and colleagues found that women who had preeclampsia during pregnancy were at especially high risk for stroke.

Ganesh, of the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and colleagues reviewed nine studies of women with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (two prospective cohort, four retrospective cohort and three case-control) that reported stroke as a clinical outcome. Follow-up ranged from 1 year to 32 years.

“There is consistent case-control and retrospective cohort evidence, both international and multi-racial, of an increased risk for stroke and for mortality from stroke in women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, in particular for those with preeclampsia/eclampsia, as demonstrated by both prospective cohort studies,” Ganesh and colleagues wrote in the study abstract. “There is weaker evidence of an increased incidence of stroke in later life with gestational hypertension alone.”

Women are routinely monitored for elevated BP during pregnancy; however, there are no guidelines about stroke-related screening or preventive measures postpartum, according to information from the study background.

“These women should be more closely followed for a re-emergence of hypertension, as well as for cholesterol, diabetes or other markers of increased risk for stroke,” Ganesh stated in a press release.

Hypertension complicates 2% to 3% of all pregnancies, and the exact cause of pregnancy-induced hypertension is not known, according to the press release.

For more information:

Ganesh A. Abstract #7366. Presented at: Canadian Stroke Congress; Oct. 17-20, 2013; Montreal.

Disclosure: Ganesh reports no relevant financial disclosures.