Pre-eclampsia is a condition that can develop in pregnancy. It increases your blood pressure that in turn can affect your kidneys, liver, brain and the placenta. It can also harm your baby.
High blood pressure during pregnancy is known as pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH). This is when high blood pressure develops after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but you don’t have the other signs of pre-eclampsia and your blood pressure returns to normal soon after delivery.
Half of women who have PIH before 32 weeks of pregnancy go on to develop pre-eclampsia.
There are two other main reasons why you might have high blood pressure in pregnancy.
1. If, your blood pressure have been high when you became pregnant – sometimes long-standing high blood pressure (chronic hypertension) is diagnosed for the first time during the routine check-ups you have when you are pregnant. If you have chronic hypertension you are at increased risk of developing pre-eclampsia.
2. When high blood pressure develops after 20 weeks of pregnancy also know as pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH).
What Is High Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure is the amount of force exerted by the blood against the walls of the arteries. A person’s blood pressure is considered high when the readings are greater than 140 mm Hg systolic (the top number in the blood pressure reading) or 90 mm Hg diastolic (the bottom number).
In general, high blood pressure, or hypertension, contributes to the development of coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure and kidney disease.
What Are the Effects of High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy?
Although many pregnant women with high blood pressure have healthy babies without serious problems, high blood pressure can be dangerous for both the mother and the fetus. Women with pre-existing, or chronic, high blood pressure are more likely to have certain complications during pregnancy than those with normal blood pressure.
However, some women develop high blood pressure while they are pregnant (often called gestational hypertension).
The effects of high blood pressure range from mild to severe:
* High blood pressure can harm the mother’s kidneys and other organs, and it can cause low birth weight and early delivery.
* In the most serious cases, the mother develops preeclampsia–or “toxemia of pregnancy”–which can threaten the lives of both the mother and the fetus.