- Concern that tens of thousands of pregnant women are being overlooked
- Midwives and doctors assume mums-to-be have healthy blood pressure
- Blood pressure can be low in the early stages of a woman’s pregnancy
- This means medics then overlook blood pressure nearer time of birth
Daily Mail Reporter
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Pregnant women with only mildly raised blood pressure are at far higher risk of becoming obese or developing diabetes after the birth, researchers claim.
They have found that expectant mothers whose readings were only just above normal were up to six times more likely to develop these complications.
The academics are worried that tens of thousands of pregnant women are being overlooked by midwives and doctors who assume their blood pressure is healthy.
Pregnant women with only mildly raised blood pressure are at far higher risk of becoming obese or developing diabetes after the birth, researchers claim
The problem occurs because blood pressure tends to fall during the first three months of pregnancy, due to certain hormonal changes to accommodate for the foetus.
But this means that women who actually have high blood pressure are recorded as being within the normal range, or just above.
Chinese researchers have found that these women are 6.5 times more likely to develop a complication after the birth, called postpartum metabolic syndrome, which includes obesity, diabetes and raised cholesterol.
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Dr Qiong Lei, of the Department of Obstetrics at Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, in Guangzhou, says midwives and doctors should carry out more frequent tests of blood pressure during pregnancy.
She also wants the threshold for readings to be lowered so women with only mildly elevated readings are carefully monitored.
An estimated 8 per cent of women have high blood pressure during pregnancy, equivalent to around 56,000 in the UK a year.
The academics are worried that tens of thousands of pregnant women are being overlooked by midwives and doctors who assume their blood pressure is healthy
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