Pre-eclampsia raises future stroke risk

Women who develop pre-eclampsia (a condition that includes abnormally high blood pressure) during pregnancy might have a higher risk of having stroke in future. Researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used data from the Stroke Prevention in Young Women Study to assess the association of pre-clampsia with stroke in women between the ages of 15 and 44 years. They identified 261 cases of stroke among non-pregnant women in the study group and compared them with 416 randomly chosen controls who had not had a stroke. There was a history of pre-eclampsia in 15 percent of the women with stroke and in 10 percent of controls. Taking into account the age, race, education and number of pregnancies, women with a history of pre-eclampsia were 60 percent more likely to have a stroke than those without it. The findings suggest that women with pre-eclampsia should be targeted for close risk factor monitoring and control beyond the postpartum period to reduce their risk of having a stroke later on.