Source: health.clevelandclinic.org<\/p>\n
A healthy mom often means a healthy baby. But according to one study, the number of pregnant moms with chronic high blood pressure is on the rise. Chronic high blood pressure, or hypertension, is a condition in which the force of blood pushing against the blood vessel walls is too high.<\/p>\n
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), shows 1 in 3 American adults has high blood pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is more and more women have chronic hypertension before they\u2019re even pregnant,\u201d says Salena Zanotti, MD, who did not take part in the study. \u201cThere was an almost 6% rise per year in women with chronic hypertension during the study.\u201d<\/p>\n
Uncontrolled hypertension greatly increases a person\u2019s risk for heart disease and stroke \u2013 but the risks are even higher for pregnant moms.<\/p>\n
Dr. Zanotti says chronic hypertension, at the start of pregnancy, increases a woman\u2019s risk of developing preeclampsia \u2013 a severe and significant disease that is harmful for both mom and baby.<\/p>\n
She says it\u2019s important for women to be the healthiest they can be before they conceive, because everything about a mom\u2019s health affects the health of her baby. Getting chronic health conditions under control before pregnancy helps keep women healthy for years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe important thing for women to also realize \u2013 if you have high blood pressure and you\u2019re pregnant and develop more blood pressure problems \u2013 it affects you down the road too,\u201d says Dr. Zanotti. \u201cIt increases your risk of stroke and heart attack 10, 20 even 30 years down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Zanotti says many times, blood pressure can be controlled with a good diet, exercise and not smoking, but there are times when a person needs medication too. There are some blood pressure controlling medications that are safe to take while pregnant, so it\u2019s important for women with chronic hypertension to talk with their doctors.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[298,521,606,2300],"class_list":["post-2625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heart-care","tag-high-blood-pressure","tag-hypertension","tag-pregnancy","tag-pregnancy-risk"],"yoast_head":"\n