Prepregnant blood pressure, hypertension during pregnancy, and later blood pressure of mothers and offspring.

In a community-based prospective study of black women, blood pressure (BP) before the onset of the first pregnancy was significantly higher in participants who were eventually diagnosed as having pre-eclampsia than those not so diagnosed. The diagnosis of "pre-eclampsia" appeared to be based entirely on BP; "hypertension associated with pregnancy" is probably a more accurate term. The BP of the pre-eclamptic group was consistently higher before admission to h ospital, during hospitalization, and at 6 weeks and 9 years after delivery. Daughters of pre-eclamptic mothers had higher BP than those of non-pre-eclamptic mothers; this difference was not apparent in boys. The data are compatible with a sex-limited subset of essential hypertension. It is perhaps estrogen-dependent, manifesting itself as mild "pre-eclampsia" in the mother and mild BP elevation in female offspring.