Preeclampsia during pregnancy raises risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes
POSTED February 2, 2009 - 11:34 | POSTED BY Nisha Bhatia
Last edited by Shikha Patial on February 2, 2009 - 12:50
Copenhagen, February 2: A new study has revealed that high blood pressure caused by preeclampsia during pregnancy can put a woman at high risk of developing chronic hypertension and lifelong type 2 diabetesdefine.
A group of researchers from Yale School of Medicine and University of Copenhagen, Denmark, studied health reports of over 11 million women, who delivered babies in Denmark between 1978 and 2007 for the research.
They found that women who suffered preeclampsia during at least two pregnancies, had an elevated risk of developing hypertension post pregnancy.
Preeclampsia is another name for hypertension, which may arise as a complication during pregnancy. It then causes significant amount of protein to be released in urine.
Other than increased blood pressure, it also poses threat to the maternal endotheliumdefine, kidneys and liver. This condition may cause cardiovascular disease as well. Usually, preeclampsia develops 20 weeks from gestation.
According to the experts, preeclampsia may be caused if placentadefine is implanted shallowly in the womb. This leads to a hypoxic condition resulting in an immune reaction, which initiates a secretion of up-regulated inflammatory mediators from the placenta, and exercising negative effects on the vasculardefine endothelium of the woman.
Senior author of the study Michael J. Paidas, MD, associate professor and director of the Program for Thrombosisdefine and Hemostasis in Women's Health in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale, remarked, "The only reliable treatment for preeclampsia is delivery of the baby…But while delivery may 'cure' preeclampsia in the moment, these mothers are at high risk of chronic hypertension, type 2 diabetesdefine mellitus and blood clots for the rest of their lives.”
This research is a significant contribution to the database, which can help experts to better understand the link between hypertensive pregnancy disorders and subsequent, death and ischemic heart disease, Paidas added.
Many more researches are in line to find out an association between genetic disorders and pregnancy complications, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
