International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Screening for high blood pressure during pregnancy may help doctors pre-empt women's health problems later in life.

A team by the Mayo Clinic in the US led by Dr Vesna Garovic found hypertension in mid-pregnancy can signal an increased risk of serious illness when a patient gets older.

The researchers conducted studies on the short and long-term consequence of high blood pressure and presented them at the American Society of Nephrology's Annual Kidney Week recently.

One investigation found 51 per cent of mothers with hypertension while carrying a child still had the problem after the age of 40, while 14 per cent suffered from kidney disease and ten per cent had strokes.

There was a lower incidence of these health problems in women who did not have high blood pressure in pregnancy.

Dr Garovic said the findings "could lead to new guidelines for screening and treatment of women at risk, with the ultimate goal of improving cardiovascular health in women".

Researchers at the Sleep Medicine Division at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, US, recently discovered a link between restless legs syndrome and high blood pressure in middle-aged women.

Posted by Alexandra George