Diabetes, High Blood Pressure While Pregnant Spells Trouble Later On

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By Robert Preidt

Monday, November 20, 2017

MONDAY, Nov. 20, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- If you develop both diabetes and high blood pressure during pregnancy, you face a much higher risk of future trouble than women who only develop one of those conditions while pregnant, researchers report.

And that future trouble can include heart disease, the Canadian researchers added.

To reach that conclusion, the research team looked at 64,000 couples in the province of Quebec.

Having either diabetes or high blood pressure during pregnancy increased a woman's future risk of diabetes by 15 times. The risk was 37 times higher among women who had both conditions during pregnancy.

Having either diabetes or high blood pressure during pregnancy doubled a woman's future risk of high blood pressure. But the risk was six times higher among women who had both conditions during pregnancy, the study found.

"Knowing this will allow physicians to identify mothers at risk and to work with them to make lifestyle changes in an effort to help reduce those risks," said study first author Dr. Romina Pace. She's an internist and physician-scientist in training at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center in Montreal.

The researchers also found there were increased risks for husbands of women who had diabetes and/or high blood pressure during pregnancy.

"This shared risk is an important finding because it can help promote collaboration between partners to make lasting lifestyle changes in the household together," Pace said in a university news release.

The study was published Nov. 14 in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

SOURCE: McGill University, news release, Nov. 14, 2017

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