The duration of hypertension in the puerperium of preeclamptic women: relationship with renal impairment and week of delivery.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the study was to determine whether the duration of hypertension in the puerperium of preeclamptic women was related to certain clinical features of disease severity.

STUDY DESIGN

We studied 269 singleton pregnancies divided into two groups: 159 with gestational hypertension and 110 with preeclampsia. The normalization time of blood pressure in puerperium was estimated as the interval between the delivery day and the first day when each of two to four self-measurements per day of diastolic blood pressure was observed to be < or = 80 mm Hg for at least 3 consecutive days.

RESULTS

Normalization time was shorter in gestational hypertension than in preeclampsia (6 +/- 5.5 [means +/- SD] vs 16 +/- 9.5, respectively, p < 0.0001). Normalization time of gestational hypertension showed a significant correlation with uric acid (r = 0.20, p < 0.025); normalization time of preeclampsia displayed significant correlations with the week of delivery (r = -0.34, p < 0.005), uric acid (r = 0.34, p < 0.025), and urea nitrogen (r = 0.29, p < 0.025), respectively. After stratification by parity, in both groups the correlations of normalization time with renal data were observed only among multiparous women, whereas in preeclampsia the link of normalization time with the week of delivery remained highly significant in both subgroups.

CONCLUSIONS

The differences observed between gestational hypertension and preeclampsia suggest that distinct mechanisms or a different maternal answer to the same mechanism(s), in maintaining high blood pressure in puerperium, are present in the two groups. Normalization time might reflect the recovery time of the endothelial damage in preeclampsia.