Women who develop high blood pressure during pregnancy appear to be at increased risk for death from Heart disease years later, according to a report in BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

The findings are based on a study of 325 women who developed high blood pressure during pregnancy between 1931 and 1947 and 629 healthy comparison subjects. The subjects were followed until the end of 1996 for Heart Disease events, such as Heart attack , and cancer.

The rate of death from heart disease among the women with high blood pressure was 24 percent, much higher than the 15-percent rate among healthy subjects, Dr. Reynir T. Geirsson, from Landspitali University Hospital in Reykjavik, Iceland, and colleagues note. The rate of Stroke-related deaths was also higher in the high blood pressure group than in the comparison group, at 9.5 versus 6.5 percent, respectively.

In contrast, no difference in cancer death rates was seen between the groups, the investigators point out.

As a result of increased heart disease death rates, survival in the high blood pressure group was cut short by an average of 3-to-9 years compared with comparison subjects, the authors estimate. However, this effect depended on the age of the women when their high blood pressure pregnancy occurred, with the effect being less pronounced among younger women.

Further analysis showed that the risk of death from heart disease rose as the severity of high blood pressure in pregnancy increased, the authors note.

SOURCE: BJOG March 2005.