02 June 2019 02 Jun 2019

Caring for women with chronic hypertension

Hypertension in pregnancy affects approximately 10% of women The reported incidence varies between studies, but it is estimated that 13-3% of pregnant women will have chronic hypertension (Sibai, 2002; Roberts et al, 2008; Bateman et al, 2012) and 83% will have gestational hypertension (Roberts et al, 2008) The number of women entering pregnancy with chronic hypertension is rising, predominantly because of increasing rates of obesity and pregnancy at advanced maternal age (Seely and Ecker, 2011)