Pregnancy Complications

Complications in pregnancy - HTN

• the most common medical complication of pregnancy is hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
• So, when hypertension is diagnosed before 20 weeks gestation, it’s usually chronic hypertension, meaning that it’s not due to pregnancy. 
• After 20 weeks gestation, new onset hypertension without proteinuria or damage to other organs is gestational hypertension.
• If hypertension gets severe, meaning systolic blood pressure of 160 mmHg or greater and/or diastolic blood pressure of 110 mmHg or greater, it can often lead to organ damage.
• One key thing to look out for is the presence of proteinuria, or excessive amounts of protein in the urine, which is a marker of kidney damage.
• Other affected organs include the brain and liver.
• Now, if the hypertension coexists with proteinuria or other organ dysfunction, then it’s called preeclampsia.
• Preeclampsia is more common during a person’s first pregnancy, in pregnancies with multiple gestations, or in mothers 35 years or older.
• Other risk factors include having pre-existing hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease or autoimmune disorders like the antiphospholipid syndrome.