Pre-eclampsia linked to increased risks of hypertension, CKD, CVD in mums

Women with a history of pre-eclampsia may have heightened long-ter risks of hypertension, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and cardiovascular disease (CVD), as reported in a study.

Researchers used routinely collected individual-level data from medical databases and identified pregnancies ≥20 weeks among women aged ≥15 years in Denmark. A total of 286,078 women were included in the analysis.

The main outcome was the risks of hypertension, CKD, and CVD. These risks were assessed by pre-eclampsia status, including urinary protein excretion (UPE) level (no/mild vs moderate/severe, based on established urine protein/albumin cutoffs).

Over a median follow-up of 6.4 years, pre-eclampsia occurred in 9,538 participants (3.3 percent). Of these, 5,556 had no/mild UPE (58.3 percent) and 3,982 (41.7 percent) had moderate/severe UPE. Primiparity was more common among women with vs without a history of pre-eclampsia (82.2 percent vs 63.2 percent), as was obesity (40.0 percent vs 26.3 percent).

Pre-eclampsia was associated with higher risks of later hypertension, CKD or CVD. Among women with pre-eclampsia with no/mild UPE, the 10-year incidence of hypertension, CKD, and CVD was 11.9 percent, 1.2 percent, and 1.1 percent, respectively. Among women with pre-eclampsia with moderate/severe UPE, the 10-year incidence was 16 percent for hypertension, 5.1 percent for CKD, and 1.2 percent for CVD.

The adjusted risk differences and risk ratios were similar across UPE levels for hypertension and CVD, whereas the risk estimates increased with higher UPE for CKD.