A large new study has found that blood pressure patterns in the first half of pregnancy can help predict whether a woman will develop high blood pressure years after giving birth—even if she didn’t have any pregnancy-related complications at the time.
The findings, published in the journal Hypertension, offer a new way to identify women who may be at risk of future heart problems.
High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, which remains the leading cause of death worldwide.
During pregnancy, some women develop serious conditions like preeclampsia or gestational hypertension, known as hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP).
These are already known to increase the chance of developing heart disease later in life.
However, this new study shows that even women who don’t develop HDP during pregnancy may still be at higher risk if they have certain blood pressure patterns early on.
Researchers studied the medical records of more than 174,000 women who received prenatal care at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California between 2009 and 2019.
None of the women had a history of high blood pressure or major health problems before pregnancy.
The research team followed these women’s health for up to 14 years after they gave birth to see who later developed hypertension.
The study found that blood pressure patterns during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy could be grouped into six categories, ranging from very low to consistently elevated.
Women who had an “elevated-stable” blood pressure pattern—meaning their blood pressure started high and stayed high—were much more likely to develop hypertension years later, even if they never had HDP during pregnancy.
In fact, among women who did not develop HDP, those with higher-risk blood pressure patterns in early pregnancy were still 11 times more likely to develop hypertension later compared to those with lower-risk patterns.
This discovery is important because it highlights a group of women who might be at risk of future heart disease but are not currently being watched closely after giving birth.
By recognizing these early blood pressure patterns, doctors may be able to offer more targeted care, including regular check-ups and lifestyle advice, to prevent heart problems later on.
The researchers say that combining a woman’s early pregnancy blood pressure pattern with her history of pregnancy complications may provide a much better way to predict future risk of heart disease. This could lead to earlier support and better long-term health for many women.
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