Progression of gestational hypertension to chronic hypertension

BACKGROUND: The gestational hypertension is the most frequent cause of hypertension during the pregnancy. The gestational hypertension is a provisional diagnosis only during the pregnancy; it is unknown the number of women with gestational hypertension who progress to chronic hypertension. OBJECTIVE: To determine the number of women with gestational hypertension who progress to chronic hypertension. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cohort prospective study was carried out; we includedl96 patients with the diagnosis of gestational hypertension at the time of the interruption of the pregnancy; after 12 weeks, a follow up appointment was scheduled in order to measure the blood pressure and to determine how many patients progressed to chronic hypertension. The data were analyzed with arithmetic mean, standard error and percentage values. For the comparison of variables, the Chi2 test and a logistic regression analysis were used; an alpha value was set at 0.05. RESULTS: Thirteen patients (6.6%) with diagnosis of gestational hypertension progressed to chronic hypertension. It was found that advanced age (p = 0.007), high body mass index (p = 0.013) and the antecedent of hypertensive disease in a previous pregnancy (p = 0.048) were significantly associated with the progression to chronic hypertension. CONCLUSIONS: The overweight, advanced maternal age and the antecedent of hypertensive disorder in a previous pregnancy are the variables associated with the progression from gestational hypertension to chronic hypertension.