THE ESSENTIAL
- In pregnant women with mild to moderate hypertension, drug treatment is offered only in those with a high cardiovascular risk.
- In the event of severe hypertension, the mother-to-be is hospitalized during her pregnancy and maternal and fetal monitoring is therefore close. In the most serious forms, it may be necessary to terminate the pregnancy to avoid any vital risk to the mother.
“The benefits and safety of treatment for mild chronic hypertension (blood pressure < 160/100 mm Hg) in pregnancy are uncertain", indicated a team of American researchers. To determine whether antihypertensive drugs can lower blood pressure in mildly hypertensive pregnant women without compromising fetal growth, scientists conducted a study, including the results were published in the journal The New England Journal of Medicine April 2nd.
To carry out their work, they recruited 2,408 future mothers suffering from mild chronic hypertension and pregnant for less than 23 weeks. Some of the participants continued to follow their treatment for this chronic disease. The rest of the volunteers did not receive antihypertensive drugs unless severe hypertension developed. The authors followed the pregnant women to find out whether the treatments caused premature delivery, placental abruption, fetal or neonatal death.
Pregnant women undergoing treatment for hypertension had no more complications
According to the results, the incidence of the listed complications was lower in the participants who took the antihypertensive drugs than in the volunteers who did not benefit from the treatment. According to the scientists, the incidence of serious maternal complications was 2.1% and 2.8%, respectively, and the incidence of serious neonatal complications was 2% and 2.6%.
“In pregnant women with mild chronic hypertension, a strategy of lowering blood pressure was associated with better pregnancy outcomes than a strategy of only prescribing the treatment for severe hypertension,” concluded the researchers.