Unique blood pressure characteristics in mother and offspring after early onset preeclampsia.

Risk of hypertension in mother and offspring after preeclampsia is greater if preeclampsia develops early in pregnancy. We investigated whether those who develop early onset disease have unique adverse blood pressure characteristics. One hundred forty women were studied 6 to 13 years either after a pregnancy complicated by preeclampsia (45 women with early onset preeclampsia before 34 weeks gestation and 45 women with late-onset preeclampsia) or after a normotensive pregnancy (50 women).

Elevated blood pressure in offspring born premature to hypertensive pregnancy: is endothelial dysfunction the underlying vascular mechanism?

Offspring born to mothers with hypertensive pregnancy have higher childhood blood pressure. We hypothesized this relates to prenatally programmed differences in the underlying vascular pathophysiology of the offspring and that these would be most apparent in those born preterm because of severe hypertension. We carried out a 20-year follow-up study of 71 subjects born preterm, 19 to a hypertensive pregnancy and 52 to a normotensive pregnancy.