Risk of post-pregnancy hypertension in women with a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: nationwide cohort study

TY - JOUR

T1 - Risk of post-pregnancy hypertension in women with a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

T2 - nationwide cohort study

AU - Behrens, Ida

AU - Basit, Saima

AU - Melbye, Mads

AU - Lykke, Jacob A

AU - Wohlfahrt, Jan

AU - Bundgaard, Henning

AU - Thilaganathan, Baskaran

AU - Boyd, Heather A

N1 - Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

PY - 2017/7/12

Y1 - 2017/7/12

N2 - Objectives To determine how soon after delivery the risk of post-pregnancy hypertension increases in women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and how the risk evolves over time.Design Nationwide register based cohort study.Setting Denmark.Populations 482 972 primiparous women with a first live birth or stillbirth between 1995 and 2012 (cumulative incidence analyses), and 1 025 118 women with at least one live birth or stillbirth between 1978 and 2012 (Cox regression analyses).Main outcome measures 10 year cumulative incidences of post-pregnancy hypertension requiring treatment with prescription drugs, and hazard ratios estimated using Cox regression.Results Of women with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy in a first pregnancy in their 20s, 14% developed hypertension in the first decade post partum, compared with 4% of women with normotensive first pregnancies in their 20s. The corresponding percentages for women with a first pregnancy in their 40s were 32% and 11%, respectively. In the year after delivery, women with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy had 12-fold to 25-fold higher rates of hypertension than did women with a normotensive pregnancy. Rates in women with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy were threefold to 10-fold higher 1-10 years post partum and remained twice as high even 20 or more years later.Conclusions The risk of hypertension associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy is high immediately after an affected pregnancy and persists for more than 20 years. Up to one third of women with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy may develop hypertension within a decade of an affected pregnancy, indicating that cardiovascular disease prevention in these women should include blood pressure monitoring initiated soon after pregnancy.

AB - Objectives To determine how soon after delivery the risk of post-pregnancy hypertension increases in women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and how the risk evolves over time.Design Nationwide register based cohort study.Setting Denmark.Populations 482 972 primiparous women with a first live birth or stillbirth between 1995 and 2012 (cumulative incidence analyses), and 1 025 118 women with at least one live birth or stillbirth between 1978 and 2012 (Cox regression analyses).Main outcome measures 10 year cumulative incidences of post-pregnancy hypertension requiring treatment with prescription drugs, and hazard ratios estimated using Cox regression.Results Of women with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy in a first pregnancy in their 20s, 14% developed hypertension in the first decade post partum, compared with 4% of women with normotensive first pregnancies in their 20s. The corresponding percentages for women with a first pregnancy in their 40s were 32% and 11%, respectively. In the year after delivery, women with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy had 12-fold to 25-fold higher rates of hypertension than did women with a normotensive pregnancy. Rates in women with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy were threefold to 10-fold higher 1-10 years post partum and remained twice as high even 20 or more years later.Conclusions The risk of hypertension associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy is high immediately after an affected pregnancy and persists for more than 20 years. Up to one third of women with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy may develop hypertension within a decade of an affected pregnancy, indicating that cardiovascular disease prevention in these women should include blood pressure monitoring initiated soon after pregnancy.

KW - Adult

KW - Blood Pressure

KW - Cohort Studies

KW - Denmark

KW - Disease Susceptibility

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Hypertension

KW - Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced

KW - Incidence

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Parity

KW - Pregnancy

KW - Proportional Hazards Models

KW - Risk Assessment

KW - Stillbirth

KW - Young Adult

KW - Journal Article

U2 - 10.1136/bmj.j3078

DO - 10.1136/bmj.j3078

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28701333

SN - 0959-8146

VL - 358

JO - B M J

JF - B M J

M1 - j3078

ER -