Source: Herz  |  Posted 8 years ago

Differences in blood pressure profiles between healthy and complicated pregnancies emerged during the first trimester, even though systolic and diastolic blood pressures are normal.

Researchers from the University of Vigo, Spain, enrolled 235 women who completed uncomplicated pregnancies, 128 who showed gestational hypertension and 40 who had pre-eclampsia. The authors evaluated 2,430 blood pressure series taken by 48-hour ambulatory monitoring every four weeks, from the first obstetric visit until delivery. Blood pressure circadian variation was stratified by group and trimester.

In all trimesters, women with complicated pregnancies showed statistically significant differences in the 24-hour mean blood pressure and the amplitude of variations.

During the first trimester, blood pressure in patients with gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia showed similar circadian characteristics. However, the 24-hour mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures differed between gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia in the second trimester. The difference was most marked in the third trimester.

The authors commented that differences in blood pressure profiles between healthy and complicated pregnancies emerged during the first trimester. However, at this time, the systolic and diastolic blood pressures for women diagnosed later with gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia were normal. The researchers suggested that the differences shown in this study might lead to the early identification of hypertensive complications and facilitate prophylactic management.