Clinics in Mother and Child Health

Pregnancy Induced Hypertension in Women and its associated Complications and Counter Measures: A Detailed Analysis

Dedeepya Kondapalli^* Bachelor of Pharmacy, Au College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India
^*Correspondence: Dedeepya Kondapalli, Bachelor of Pharmacy, Au College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India, Email:

Received: 19-Oct-2020 Published: 10-Nov-2020

Introduction

Hypertension refers to the high blood pressure. The normal blood pressure of a healthy human being is 120/80 whereas person suffering from hypertension blood pressure will be of 140/90 and more. (PIH) is Hypertension in pregnancy which is also being termed as Gestational Hypertension. There are 3 different types of Hypertensions induced during pregnancy namely

Chronic Hypertension

In this condition women are having high blood pressure of 140/80 before pregnancy or in early weeks of pregnancy.

Gestational Hypertension (GH)

Hypertension which develops after 20 weeks of pregnancy is termed to be Gestational Hypertension.

Preeclampsia

This a serious condition where it included both Chronic Hypertension and Gestational hypertension which results in damage of several other organs like liver, Kidney, Pulmonary Edema, Seizures if left untreated it may results in death of both mother and baby.

Associated Risk Factors

In pregnant women, Hypertension became one of the hazardous problems. Due to hypertension especially in case of PIH, there may be severe health impact both for mother and baby. Likewise, many other risk factors are also making critical impact on both baby and mother health and those risk factors are depicted in (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Several risk factors associated with PIH

Many advanced research works are done for finding out the complications for PIH. Danza et al. [1] has described several risk factors of obstetric as well as PIH. The authors described that a widely known syndrome known as APS (Anti-phospholipid syndrome) has been recognized as highly impacted risk factor for PIH.

Savitz, et.al [2] has described that there is increased complication of all hypertension related disorders in pregnancy of black as well as Hispanic women when compared with non-hispanic white women. Moreover, these severe complications are low in Asian women. Advanced researches described that deficiency of Vitamin-D has become one of the associated complication of Preeclampsia [3-4].

Still birth, preterm birth, low birth weight, Intra Uterine growth retardation, neonatal death, asphyxia, and admission to neonatal intensive care unit were the main adverse birth outcomes pregnancy induced hypertension [5-8]. Overall, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy may induce long term metabolic and endothelial dysfunction/abnormalities that could lead to future cardiovascular diseases in women life [9-10]. Thus, early recognition of this problem is important to prevent deleterious outcomes.

Symptoms

Symptoms for Gestational Hypertension and Preeclampsia Includes

• Proteinuria (Proteins in Urine)

• Headache and Dizziness

• Edema

• Nausea or vomiting

• Blurred Vision or Temporary loss

Diagnosis and Treatment

The Diagnosis for Gestational Hypertension and preeclampsia are similar. If Blood pressure is 140/90 or more after 20 weeks of pregnancy then it termed to be GH or Preeclampsia. Other diagnosis techniques include high proteins in urine (Proteinuria). Minoxidil a vasodilator is used to treat hypertension in pregnancy. Other medications include Methyldopa, Labetalol, Beta Blockers (Other than Atenolol), Slow Release Nifedipine and Diuretic.

Preventive Measures

We can control high blood pressure by taking healthy diet along with exercises.

• Usage of Salt should be reduced than normal.

• Drinking plenty of water helps to reduce hypertension.

• Taking medicines in timely manner helps to maintain Blood pressure in normal condition

• Avoid Smoking and Drinking of alcohol.

Low birth weight, preterm birth, asphyxia and perinatal death were the adverse outcomes of Pregnancy induced hypertension. Hence, health professionals should give due emphasis for early recognition and management of women with pregnancy induced hypertension.

Discussion and Conclusion

Undoubtedly, PIH is one of the severe complications in pregnant women. From the analysis made in this article, it is observed that taking of unhygienic food, smoking, drinking of alcohol are also some of the associated risk factors that causes PIH. In order to prevent PIH, many countermeasures are described. Also, some of the diagnosis and treatment methods along with some medications are described as remedy for PIH. There is a need of advanced research for preventing PIH. It can’t be overstate to say that advancements in preventing PIH will become hot topic among researchers as well as practitioners in future.

Acknowledgment

The author has declared no conflict of interest.

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