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Ambulatory arterial stiffness index and nocturnal blood pressure dipping in pregnancies complicated by hypertension
Author(s) -
Kärkkäinen Henna,
Saarelainen Heli,
Laitinen Tomi,
Heiskanen na,
Valtonen Pirjo,
Laitinen Tiina,
Vanninen Esko,
Hein Seppo
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
clinical physiology and functional imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.608
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1475-097X
pISSN - 1475-0961
DOI - 10.1111/cpf.12063
Subject(s) - medicine , arterial stiffness , pregnancy , blood pressure , ambulatory blood pressure , cardiology , gestational hypertension , diastole , preeclampsia , ambulatory , gestation , obstetrics , genetics , biology
Summary Background The study sets out to examine differences in arterial stiffness and nocturnal blood pressure dipping as outcomes in women with gestational hypertension compared with healthy pregnant women during pregnancy and 3 months after delivery. Methods and results We prospectively studied a cohort of 60 women during the third trimester of pregnancy; of them, 28 suffered pregnancy‐induced hypertension or pre‐eclampsia and 32 had uncomplicated singleton pregnancies. Subsequently, 42 of these were re‐examined 3 months after delivery. In women with a hypertensive disorder, the nocturnal fall in blood pressure (dipping) was significantly smaller than in the normotensive group (systolic, P = 0·031; diastolic, P <0·001), but after pregnancy, this difference disappeared (systolic, P = 0·941; diastolic, P = 0·907). Ambulatory arterial stiffness index ( AASI ) assessed after pregnancy correlated inversely with fasting glucose level during pregnancy ( r = −0·580, P = 0·018), both systolic ( r = −0·651, P = 0·012) and diastolic ( r = −0·687, P = 0·007) nocturnal dipping and total cholesterol concentration after pregnancy ( r = −0·526, P = 0·036). Conclusions A hypertensive disorder during pregnancy was associated with a flattened circadian blood pressure response, which was restored after delivery. Higher arterial stiffness predicted the signs of postpartum metabolic syndrome and correlated also with non‐dipping, especially postpartum.