Pregnant Gen Zers, millennials twice as likely to develop hypertension in pregnancy
Gen Zers and millennials are approximately two times more likely to be newly diagnosed with high blood pressure during pregnancy, which includes preeclampsia and gestational hypertension, compared with pregnant people from the baby boomer generation even after adjusting for age differences at pregnancy, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.
The finding is significant because it is commonly thought that increases in rates of high blood pressure during pregnancy is due to people becoming pregnant at older ages. However, the study newly finds rates of high blood pressure during pregnancy are higher among individuals from more recent generations regardless of their age during pregnancy.
“While there are many reasons for the generational changes observed, we hypothesize that this is, in large part, due to the observed generational decline in heart health,” said corresponding study author Dr. Sadiya Khan, an assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician. “We are seeing more people in more recent generations entering pregnancy with risk factors such as obesity.”
The stakes are high, Khan said.
“High blood pressure during pregnancy is a leading cause of death for both mom and baby,” Khan said. “High blood pressure during pregnancy is associated with increased risk of heart failure and stroke in the mother and increased risk of the baby being born prematurely, being growth restricted or dying.”
The study was published Aug. 24 in JAMA Open Network.
Previous research from Northwestern and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has highlighted the near doubling in rates of hypertension in pregnancy over the past decade.
