Report from a text-based blood pressure monitoring prospective cohort trial among postpartum women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

BACKGROUND

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a main cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States and worldwide, and it is estimated that approximately 60% of maternal deaths in the United States occur during the postpartum period. The utilization of telehealth modalities such as home blood pressure monitoring has shown improvement in blood pressure control and adherence with follow up visits. Our study sought to determine if standardized education improved patient hypertension knowledge and if this when combined with home blood pressure telemonitoring increased participants' postpartum self-blood pressure monitoring and postpartum visit attendance.

METHODS

This is an Institutional Review Board approved prospective cohort study conducted at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Women with a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy who met the inclusion criteria and provided written informed consent to participate were enrolled. Participants received a baseline pre-education questionnaire designed to assess their knowledge of their hypertensive diagnosis, hypertension management, and postpartum preeclampsia (PreE). Participants then received standard education, a blood pressure monitor, and were scheduled a follow-up visit during the first 10 days following discharge. Remote home blood pressure monitoring was performed via text messages and voice calls for 6-weeks postpartum. At the conclusion of the study, participants repeated their original questionnaire.

RESULTS

250 women provided informed consent to participate in the study and were included in this analysis. Relative to the baseline survey, there was a significant increase (p = 0.0001) in the percentage of correct responses. There was not an association between study engagement and percentage of correct responses on end of study questionnaire (p = 0.33) or postpartum visit attendance (p = 0.69). Maternal age was found to drive study engagement, even when adjusted for community-level distress (p = 0.03) and maternal race (p = 0.0002).

CONCLUSION

Implementing a standardized postpartum education session was associated with improvement in patient's knowledge. Further studies are needed with more longitudinal follow up to assess if this program would also result in improved long-term outcomes and decreased hospital readmission rates.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

NCT04570124.

Facilitators and barriers to home blood pressure monitoring among pregnant women in Ghana: a mixed-methods analysis of patient perspectives

BACKGROUND

The benefit of home blood pressure monitoring during pregnancy and in low-resource settings is incompletely understood. The objective of this study was to explore the experiences, barriers, and facilitators of home blood pressure monitoring among pregnant women in Ghana.

METHODS

This concurrent triangulation mixed-methods study was conducted at an urban tertiary hospital in Ghana. Participants were recruited from adult pregnant women presenting for routine antenatal care. Upon enrollment, participants' demographics and history were collected. At the next study visit, participants received audiovisual and hands-on training on using an automatic blood pressure monitor; they then monitored and logged their blood pressure daily at home for 2-4 weeks. At the final study visit, verbally administered surveys and semi-structured interviews assessed participant's experiences. Quantitative data were analyzed using R version 4.2.2, and frequencies and descriptive statistics were calculated. Qualitative data were imported into DeDoose 9.0.78 for thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Of 235 enrolled participants, 194 completed surveys; of those, 33 completed in-depth interviews. Participants' mean age was 31.6 (SD 5.3) years, 32.1% had not previously given birth, and 31.1% had less than a senior high school education. On a 4-point Likert scale, the majority reported they "definitely" were able to remember (n = 134, 69.1%), could find the time (n = 124, 63.9%), had the energy (n = 157, 80.9%), could use the blood pressure monitor without problems (n = 155, 79.9%), and had family approval (n = 182, 96.3%) while engaging in home blood pressure monitoring. 95.88% (n = 186) believed that pregnant women in Ghana should monitor their blood pressure at home. Qualitative thematic analysis demonstrated that most participants liked home blood pressure monitoring because of increased knowledge of their health during pregnancy. While most participants found measuring their blood pressure at home doable, many faced challenges. Participants' experiences with five key factors influenced how easy or difficult their experience was: 1) Time, stress, and daily responsibilities; 2) Perceived importance of BP in pregnancy; 3) Role of family; 4) Capability of performing monitoring; 5) Convenience of monitoring.

CONCLUSIONS

Among pregnant women in urban Ghana, home blood pressure monitoring was perceived as positive, important, and doable; however, challenges must be addressed.

Hematological profiles of newborns of mothers with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy delivered at the University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital: a comparative cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy can cause prenatal placental perfusion with insufficient blood supply to the fetus, resulting in fetal exposure to hypoxia and leading to disturbance of neonatal hematopoietic stem cells. This study aimed to compare the hematological profiles of newborns from mothers with hypertensive disorders and normotensive delivered at the University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital.

METHODS

A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted from March to May 2022 among 308 newborns from hypertensive and normotensive mothers in equal proportions. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select study participants. Three milliliters of cord blood were collected to perform a complete blood count by Beckman coulter. The results were presented using tables and graphs. Independent t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were done to compare the hematological profiles of the two groups. P-value < 0.05were considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

The majority of hypertensive and normotensive mothers' ages were between 20 and 34 years (83.77% and 90.91%, respectively). The hematocrit levels were significantly higher in neonates of hypertensive mothers than the neonates of normotensive mothers (49.10 ± 5.19% and 46.09 ± 7.63% respectively) (P < 0.001) while neutrophil counts were significantly lower in neonates of hypertensive mothers than the neonates of normotensive mothers (6.62 ± 3.30 and 7.55 ± 3.31 × 103 /ul respectively) (P = 0.007). Also, platelets counts were significantly lower in neonates of hypertensive mothers than neonates of normotensive mothers (221.25 ± 83.56 and 260.24 ± 83.01 × 103/ul respectively) (P < 0.001). The platelet and nucleated red blood cell count showed a statistically significant difference among newborns from mothers with superimposed preeclampsia and gestational hypertension.

CONCLUSION

Newborns delivered from hypertensive disorders of pregnancy had low white blood cell parameters, low platelet count and high red blood cell parameters compared to controls. As result, newborns may develop leukopenia, thrombocytopenia and polycythemia, respectively. Therefore, newborns should be monitored for early detection and follow-up of hematological abnormalities before complications occurred.

Identifying the risk factors for the prevention of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy in a tertiary care hospital: A cross-sectional study

Introduction:

Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy accounts for maternal morbidity and mortality globally.

Aim and Objectives:

We conducted this study to know the demographic profile and risk factors pertaining to lifestyle and behavioral aspects for hypertension among the pregnant women.

Methodology:

It was a hospital-based cross-sectional study. During the routine antenatal checkups, those antenatal cases found hypertensive, were included in the study after taking written consent. A semi-structured questionnaire was prepared and pretested before conducting the actual study. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS (version 17) software. Participants’ sociodemographic characteristics were described using descriptive statistics. Results are presented using graphs, tables, mean, percentages, standard deviation, frequency, and significance.

Results:

We observed that most of the study subjects 110 (48.9%) were educated up to secondary level followed by primary level 47 (20.9%) while 25 (11.1%) of the subjects were illiterate. We also found that 113 (50.2%) of the study subjects consumed additional salt in their diet and 57 (25.3%) of the study subjects had a history of intake of visible fat. Among 225 study subjects, 174 (77.3%) did not consume tobacco in any form. Among the 225 study subjects, 142 (60.9%) did not have a family history of hypertension. It was observed that 121 (53.77%) subjects had normal BMI while 16 (7.11%) subjects were underweight while 51 (22.6%) subjects were pre-obese. A total of 32 (14.22%) subjects were obese class 1 followed by 5 (2.22%) subjects who were obese class 2. It was observed that among 225 study subjects, 155 (68.9%) subjects had mild hypertension while 70 (31.1%) subjects had severe hypertension.

Discussion:

The scarcity of data regarding hypertension in pregnancy in low and middle income countries despite this, a comparatively high prevalence of hypertension in pregnancy was observed due to behavioral risk factors, which is mostly preventable at the primary care level.

Recommendations:

It is possible to prevent PIH by eliminating behavioral risk factors through education and counseling to the pregnant ladies, at the primary care level by family physicians or primary care physicians which will reduce maternal mortality to a great extent.

Fetal Growth Restriction in Hypertensive vs. Heavy Smoking Women-Placental Pathology, Ultrasound Findings, and Pregnancy Outcomes

We compared placental pathology, ultrasonographic findings, and obstetric outcomes, in gestations complicated by fetal growth restriction (FGR) with either a background of hypertensive disorder or heavy tobacco cigarette smoking. The medical records and placental pathology reports of pregnancies complicated with FGR (birthweight < 10th percentile) between December 2008 and May 2018 from a single tertiary center were reviewed. Placental pathology, ultrasound findings, and pregnancy outcomes were compared between hypertensive patients (HTN) and heavy smokers (SMO). We included 213 pregnancies: 129 (60.6%) in the SMO group and 84 (39.4%) in the HTN group. The HTN group was characterized by a higher BMI (p = 0.01), higher rates of Cesarean deliveries (p = 0.006), and a lower gestational age at delivery (35.6 ± 3.8 vs. 37.5 ± 2.9 weeks, p < 0.001). The HTN group had higher rates of placental weights < 10th percentile (p = 0.04) and maternal vascular malperfusion lesions (p < 0.001), while the SMO group had higher rates of inflammatory lesions (p = 0.04). On ultrasound, the HTN group had a higher head/abdomen circumference ratio (p < 0.001) and more abnormal Doppler studies (< 0.001). Neonates in the HTN group had lower birthweights (p < 0.001) and higher rates of NICU admissions (p = 0.002) and adverse neonatal outcome (p = 0.006). On multivariable analysis, gestational age at delivery (aOR = 0.65, 95%CI 0.55-0.87), hypertensive disorders (aOR = 1.8, 95%CI = 1.21-4.81), placental MVM lesions (aOR = 1.23, 95%CI = 1.08-5.02), and the combination of HTN+MVM (aOR = 2.63, 95%CI 1.78-7.30) were independently associated with adverse neonatal outcome. Hypertension and smoking may lead to FGR in different pathways as the two groups significantly differed in maternal characteristics, placental pathology, ultrasound findings, and neonatal outcomes. A hypertensive disorder probably represents a more hostile maternal environment than smoking and these pregnancies would probably benefit from closes monitoring.

Impact on pregnancy outcomes of exposure to military stress during the first or second trimester as compared with the third trimester

OBJECTIVE

To compare pregnancy outcomes after exposure to military stress in different trimesters of pregnancy.

METHODS

A retrospective study of medical records of deliveries in the Wolfson (WMC) and Barzilai (BMC) medical centers in Israel between July 2014 and April 2015. All parturients were exposed to military stress for 51 days during pregnancy. Pregnancy outcomes were compared between those exposed to military stress in the first or second trimester, and those exposed in the third trimester. Outcomes were also compared between WMC (a new-onset military stress exposure area) and BMC (a chronic military stress exposure area).

RESULTS

At WMC, women exposed in the first or second trimester (n=2657) had a higher rate of preterm delivery (<37 weeks) as compared with those exposed in the third trimester (n=2037; 214 [8.1%] vs 121 [5.9%]; P=0.005). At BMC, women exposed in the first or second trimester (n=2208) had a tendency toward lower rates of diabetes mellitus (P=0.055) and macrosomia [103 (4.7%) vs 84 (6.3%); P=0.037], as compared with those exposed in the third trimester (n=1337).

CONCLUSION

Exposure to military stress during pregnancy had different impacts on pregnancy outcomes, depending on the time of exposure and whether continuous exposure to stress occurred.

Why hypertension is good new and preeclampsia bad news-demonstrating the failure of prevention

Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy continue to be an intriguing and potentially lethal complication in humans and some other primates. In a simplistic way the current hypothesis is that the genesis of preeclampsia starts at 12 to 14 wk gestation with failure of trophoblast invasion in the spiral arteries, resulting in some degree of hypoxemia in the placenta. The hypoperfused placental tissue starts to secrete variable amounts of angiogenic and antiangiogenic factors which eventually cause endothelial damage all over the pregnant women’s body with one of the many signs of preeclampsia as the clinical endpoint. For some incomprehensible reason a major interest has existed for decades concerning the early prediction of preeclampsia, most commonly tested using uterine artery Doppler (the earlier the better) and various serum markers, alone or in combination. Any new model for detection has been welcomed enthusiastically, although nothing has changed in the outcome of women presenting with preeclampsia.