Statistically, women don't appear to suffer from high blood pressure as often, or as early in life, as men do. However, women must contend with several causes of high blood pressure that are specific to women. For women, important time periods revolve around pregnancy and menopause.

Blood pressure monitoring is an important part of good prenatal care. Hypertension is believed to accompany up to fifteen percent of pregnancies. Physicians classify four distinct types of hypertension in the pregnant woman.

Fortunately, the most common manifestation is transient gestational hypertension, which typically resolves within 12 weeks of delivery. Monitoring of blood pressure during and after pregnancy is required to make sure the condition is not the early stages of preeclampsia or the beginning of chronic hypertension. Gestational hypertension requires treatment if blood pressure remains elevated more than 12 weeks after delivering the baby.

 

This underscores the importance of good medical care prior to and during pregnancy. Women with chronic high blood pressure who take hypertension medication should consult with their doctor before getting pregnant. Some women, believing that hypertension medication may harm their child, stop taking their medicine upon learning that they are pregnant. Always consult with your doctor before making any changes to your hypertension medication.

 

Although men are more likely to develop hypertension earlier, and in greater overall numbers, after age 60 more women suffer from high blood pressure than men.

Preeclampsia is actually a separate condition that involves the symptom of hypertension with the loss of protein in the urine. Preeclampsia is a potentially serious complication that can harm both mother and baby and involves a number of abnormal physiological changes in the mother.

Preeclampsia bears close monitoring since it can progress to full blown eclampsia with the presence of seizures. Other symptoms that may accompany preeclampsia include headaches, blurred vision, abdominal pain, abnormal liver enzymes and abnormalities with blood clotting. These symptoms may occur prior to the appearance of protein loss in the urine, a symptom that helps confirm the diagnosis.

Interestingly, preeclampsia runs in families. Women whose mothers suffered from preeclampsia are three times more likely to develop symptoms associated with preeclampsia than other women. Men whose mothers had preeclampsia are likely to pass that risk along to their mates. This raises the possibility that there is some type of interaction between the mother and the unborn child (with genetic factors from the father) that contributes to preeclampsia.

 

One recent study showed that mothers who delivered their babies in August had a lower risk of preeclampsia than mothers who delivered in December or other cold, winter months.

 

Further research to understand preeclampsia and eclampsia is under way. Again, the best defense is early pre-natal care and open communication with your physician.

After menopause, changes in women's hormones may make them more susceptible to hypertension. Researchers remain unsure just how much of an effect menopause has on hypertension, and how many of the cases of hypertension in older women are simply the natural results of aging. Regardless, monitoring of blood pressure is a recommended part of routine health care for postmenopausal women.

 

Resources

MedicineNet.com (nd). High blood pressure (hypertension).

National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. (nd). High blood pressure. NHLBI Guide to Lowering High Blood Pressure.

Sibai, B.M. (2003, July). Diagnosis and management of gestational hypertension and preeclampsia. Obstetrics and Gynecology 102(1), 181-192.