Consistently Higher Systolic BP During Pregnancy Tied to Long-Term Hypertension Risk

WEDNESDAY, March 26, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Pregnant individuals with consistently elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP), yet within the subclinical range, face a higher five-year risk for hypertension, according to a study published in the April 1 issue of JACC: Advances.

Zhongzheng Niu, Ph.D., from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues identified distinct gestational SBP trajectories and examined their association with postpartum hypertension risk. The analysis included 854 pregnant individuals followed from early pregnancy to five years postpartum.

The researchers identified three distinct gestational SBP trajectory groups. The majority of participants (80.2 percent) had a “consistently low” trajectory over pregnancy. The group with a “consistently elevated” trajectory (12.4 percent) was characterized by modestly elevated SBP within a clinically normal range but lacked a midpregnancy dip. The group characterized by a “high-drop-high” trajectory (7.4 percent) consisted of most cases of gestational hypertension or preeclampsia. At five years postpartum, the risk for hypertension was 4.91-fold higher in the “consistently elevated” group and 5.44-fold higher in the “high-drop-high” group versus the “consistently low” group, after adjusting for covariates.

“Pregnant individuals with consistently elevated SBP yet within the subclinical range face longer-term risk of hypertension but may not be captured by standard prenatal clinical guidelines,” the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text