2007 to 2019 Saw Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy Increase

FRIDAY, May 27, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- From 2007 to 2019, there were increases in the incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs), including hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), according to a study published online May 18 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Priya M. Freaney, M.D., from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues performed a serial cross-sectional analysis of APO subtypes from 2007 to 2019 using maternal data from all live births that occurred in the United States. Age-standardized and age-specific rates of APOs were quantified per 1,000 live births. Data were included from 51,685,525 live births: 15, 24, and 6 percent to non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and Asian individuals, respectively.

The researchers found that age-standardized HDP rates approximately doubled from 2007 to 2019, from 38.4 to 77.8 per 1,000 live-births. There was a significant inflection point seen in 2014, marking an acceleration in the rate of increase of HDP from +4.1 percent per year from 2007 to 2014 to +9.1 percent per year from 2014 to 2019. When co-occurring in the same pregnancy with HDP, the rates of preterm delivery and low birth weight also increased significantly. Non-Hispanic Black individuals and older age groups had higher absolute rates of APOs. However, relative increases were similar across all age, racial, and ethnic groups.

"Our findings highlight the importance of clinical and public health efforts focusing on the equitable prevention of APOs and cardiovascular sequelae in birthing individuals and their offspring," the authors write.

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