Premium
HYPERTENSION AND PREGNANCY
Author(s) -
Bauer G. E.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1972.tb103677.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pregnancy , blood pressure , hypertensive disease , hypertension in pregnancy , chronic hypertension , obstetrics , disease , hypertensive disorder , family history , complications of hypertension , pediatrics , preeclampsia , genetics , biology
The obstetric histories of 89 women attending the Cardio‐Vascular Clinic, Sydney Hospital, for the treatment of hypertension were compared with an age‐matched control group. A statistically significant higher prevalence of hypertensive and renal complications during their pregnancies was reported in the hypertensive subjects. No patient in this series diagnosed as suffering from primary hypertension was found to have had reliably recorded blood pressure figures of 120/80 mm Hg or less in all pregnancies. A review of the family history lends support to the suggestion that “specific hypertensive disease of pregnancy” or “preeclamptic toxæmia” merely represents the expression of hypertension in a genetically‐predisposed female. It is proposed that patients with hypertensive complications during pregnancy be followed up at regular intervals for the early institution of measures known to prevent premature hypertensive and vascular complications.