High blood pressure during pregnancy can increase stroke risk

High blood pressure during pregnancy could dramatically increase a woman's stroke risk, according to a new research. Dr Aravind Ganesh, a neurology resident at the University of Calgary, said that they've found that women who had high blood pressure during pregnancy could be at higher risk of stroke, particularly if they had preeclampsia, which is a more severe form of high blood pressure. He said that the elevated risk of stroke could be as high as 40 per cent. Dr Ganesh, along with Neha Sarna (medical student), Dr Rahul Mehta (internal medicine resident) and senior author Dr Eric Smith (stroke neurologist), conducted nine studies specifically looked at hypertension (high BP) during pregnancy and its relationship to future risk of stroke. The studies followed women for anywhere from one to 32 years after a pregnancy, and found consistent evidence that those with a history of hypertension in pregnancy are more likely to experience stroke in later life.

The exact cause of hypertension during pregnancy is undetermined, but one theory is that some women are genetically predisposed to high blood pressure and the pregnancy brings it on. Even though it might return to normal post-partum, these women need to monitor their blood pressure and to reduce their risk of having a stroke later on.

What is preeclampsia?

In pregnant women (including teens), hypertension can lead to a serious condition called preeclampsia where women start passing protein in their urine. This leads to the disease called eclampsia which is characterised by seizures and a coma. This condition also affects other vital organs like the kidneys, liver and brain.

What is hypertension?

Hypertension or high blood pressure is one of the most common lifestyle diseases. Blood flows through our arteries with pressure. This pressure is determined by the pumping of the heart as well as resistance to the flow of blood by the arteries. Due to genetics, high cholesterol or other reasons, the wall of the blood vessels get thickened leading to increased resistance for the blood to flow. This causes the blood pressure to go up causing hypertension. Elevated blood pressure is linked to a variety of diseases coronary artery diseases, heart diseases, stroke, kidney diseases, vision loss and erectile dysfunction. High BP can be curtailed by exercising more, eating right, with antihypertensives and by keeping stress at bay. (Hypertension the silent killer)

What is a stroke?

Also known as a cerebrovascular accident, stroke is a medical emergency in which a part of the brain doesn't receive blood supply. Brain cells of the affected region begin to die within a few minutes and often result in long-term dysfunction of the body part controlled by the affected brain area. There are two main types of strokes Ischemic and Haemorrhagic stroke. An ischemic stroke is caused by a block (blood clot) in the blood vessel and a haemorrhagic stroke is caused by bleeding through a tear in the blood vessel. (Would you recognise a stroke if you saw someone having one?

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With inputs from agencies