Abstracts
Is a mother’s blood pressure in pregnancy related to the likelihood she will have a stillborn baby?
Dr Jane Warland
PhD awarded – March 2007 - Medicine Health Sciences,
University of Adelaide
Supervised through CYWHS and University of Adelaide
Reason for the study: There is a well known connection between high blood pressure in pregnancy and stillbirth, but little is known about whether low blood pressure in pregnancy is also a problem for the baby.
How the study was performed: This research compared the blood pressures taken during pregnancy of over one hundred women who had a stillbirth with the blood pressures of around two hundred women who had a live born baby.
Results: Women whose blood pressure was low, particularly if it was consistently low (on three or more occasions) were at increased risk of stillbirth. On the other hand women with high blood pressure during pregnancy were less likely to have a stillborn baby.
Conclusions: When the mother’s blood pressure is low during pregnancy this may put the baby at risk of stillbirth. While untreated high blood pressure during pregnancy is well recognized as a risk for stillbirth, this study suggests that the increased care and treatment that women with high blood pressure now receive is highly effective in preventing these deaths.
