Association of Pregnancy Complications and Characteristics with Future Risk of Elevated Blood Pressure: The Västerbotten Intervention Programme

Pregnancy characteristics are associated with risk of cardiovascular diseases, but their independent associations with hypertension or blood pressure levels remain uncertain. We linked the Swedish Medical Birth Register with Västerbotten Intervention Programme data (Northern Sweden). Using linear an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hypertension
Main Authors: Parikh, Nisha I., Norberg, Margareta, Ingelsson, Erik, Cnattingius, Sven, Vasan, Ramachandran S., Domellöf, Magnus, Jansson, Jan Håkan, Edstedt Bonamy, Anna-Karin
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2017
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Article
Northern Sweden
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5604339/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28137991
https://doi.org/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.116.08121
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Summary:Pregnancy characteristics are associated with risk of cardiovascular diseases, but their independent associations with hypertension or blood pressure levels remain uncertain. We linked the Swedish Medical Birth Register with Västerbotten Intervention Programme data (Northern Sweden). Using linear and logistic regression, we related pregnancy factors in any prior pregnancy with blood pressure and hypertension at age 40 years in 15,896 parous women free of prepregnancy hypertension. Pregnancy factors included parity, age at first delivery, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, placental abruption, shortest gestational age small for gestational age baby (SGA; < 3rd percentile for birth weight) or stillbirth. We defined hypertension as systolic BP ≥ 140 and/or DBP ≥ 90 mmHg and/or antihypertensive use. Multivariable models were adjusted for all pregnancy factors and potential lifestyle and sociodemographic confounders. At age 40 years, 1,535 women (9.6%) had hypertension. In multivariable models, lower parity, younger age at first birth, preeclampsia, SGA, and placental abruption were independently associated with higher systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure levels at age 40 years. Younger age at first birth, preeclampsia, gestational age <32 versus ≥ 37 weeks and SGA, were independently associated with hypertension. Our findings raise the possibility that earlier and more frequent BP screening may be desirable in women with these pregnancy characteristics.

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