PREGNANT women who suffer with a common condition could develop ‘thinking problems’ in later life, medics have revealed.
High blood pressure affects around five million people in the UK, according to the British Heart Foundation.
GettyThose with high blood pressure had a decline of 0.3 per cent, compared to those who didn’t have the condition during pregnancy[/caption]
It’s dubbed a silent killer, because the condition, which many are unaware of, can cause heart disease, heart attacks, strokes and kidney disease, according to the NHS.
But now, experts in the US have found that pregnant women with high blood pressure, including problems.
Those mums-to-be with preeclampsia – a condition that develops halfway through pregnancy and affects the kidneys and other organs – were found to have an even greater risk than those with gestational high blood pressure – a condition in pregnancy that does not affect any other organs.
Study author Dr Michelle M. Mielke, PhD, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina said: “These results suggest that managing and monitoring blood pressure during and after pregnancy is an important factor for brain health later in life.”
Overall the researchers found that those with high blood pressure had greater cognitive decline than those without.
Those with the common condition had a decline of 0.3 points, compared to those who didn’t have the condition during pregnancy, whose skills declined by just 0.05 points.
Those with preeclampsia had a decline of 0.04 points compared to those with other blood pressure disorders and those with no blood pressure disorders, which both had a decline of 0.05.
As part of the study, published in the journal Neurology, the experts looked at 1,854 participants.
Of this cohort, at least 83 per cent had experienced one pregnancy, 17 per cent had never had a pregnancy or had a pregnancy of less than 20 weeks before experiencing a miscarriage.
Of those with pregnancies longer than 20 weeks, 100 had gestational high blood pressure.
A further 147 had preeclampsia or eclampsia and 1,607 had normal blood pressure.
Eclampsia is when high blood pressure during pregnancy causes seizures, sometimes followed by a coma.
In order to gather their results, the participants all took nine memory and thinking tests.
These were spread out over five years and were conducted every 15 months.
These tests were then analysed for memory skills including global cognition, processing speed, executive function, language and visual perception.
What is a normal blood pressure reading?
Blood pressure is measured using two different numbers:
The first number, called systolic blood pressure, measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart beats.
The second number, called diastolic blood pressure, measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart rests between beats.
For example, if the measurement reads 120 systolic and 80 diastolic, you would say, “120 over 80,” or write, “120/80 mmHg.”
ln fact, the ideal blood pressure should be below 120 and over 80 (120/80).
You can request a blood pressure reading at your local GP.
Some surgeries have a machine in the waiting area and it just takes a few minutes to take a reading.
You can also ask your local pharmacy, although they may ask for a request from your GP.
Other places that may have a blood pressure reader include gyms and workplaces.
It comes as another study, published in January found that women who have preeclampsia have a greater risk of of deadly heart attacks and strokes for at least two decades after illness.
Women with the condition – were found to be four times more likely to have a heart attack and three times more likely to have a stroke within ten years of delivery.
And they remained twice more likely experience the heart issues than those without pre-eclampsia up to 20 years later.
Study author Dr Sara Hallum of the University of Copenhagen said the findings indicate that mums with the condition should be monitored long after giving birth.
“Prevention should start within a decade of delivery, for example by treating high blood pressure and informing women about risk factors for heart disease such as smoking and inactivity,” she added.
According to the British Heart Foundation pre-eclampsia, affects one in 25 pregnancies in the UK.
Just last month medics also warned that women with hypertensive disorders were more than 15 per cent more likely to have coronary heart disease.