Blood pressure in women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy often peaks in the first week after birth, after many have gone home. Postpartum pre-eclampsia and eclampsia are well described, and women may not recognise headache or visual change as warning signs once the baby is born.
A pregnancy complicated by hypertension also marks a higher long-term risk of chronic hypertension and cardiovascular disease, which is why the diagnosis should travel with the woman into primary care.
- Arrange a blood pressure check within the first week after discharge
- Tell women to return urgently with severe headache, visual change, breathlessness or chest pain
- Review and titrate antihypertensives rather than stopping them at discharge by default
- Write the diagnosis into the discharge summary for the GP as a long-term cardiovascular risk
Why it matters
The days after discharge are when blood pressure often peaks and when follow-up is most often lost.
Read the rest in the app
You have read your two free briefings this month. The app carries all 27 specialties, every morning, free — and this finding is waiting in it.
Scan to keep reading on your phone. No account needed to start.
Tomorrow morning, before your first patient
One edition a day for obstetrics & gynaecology, written by the desk, every claim tied to its paper. Six minutes.
Get the app — free