2010 to 2021 saw rise in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

There was an increase in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and most associated risk factors between 2010 and 2021 overall in the entire U.S. pregnant population, according to a research letter published online June 10 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Mariam K. Ayyash, M.D., from the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, and colleagues evaluated trends in preeclampsia risk factors in the United States between 2010 and 2021. The analysis included 32.75 million births identified from the National Vital Statistics System database.

The researchers found that the rate of chronic hypertension increased from 1.2 to 2.7 percent (relative increase, 125 percent) and pregestational diabetes increased from 0.7 to 1.1 percent (relative increase, 57.1 percent). There was a decrease observed in multifetal gestation from 1.7 to 1.2 percent (relative decrease, 29.4 percent).

As for moderate risk factors, the rate of obesity increased from 22.5 to 30.5 percent (relative increase, 35.6 percent), advanced maternal age increased from 14.7 to 20.1 percent (relative increase, 36.7 percent), in vitro fertilization increased from 0.5 to 1.5 percent (relative increase, 200 percent), and the interpregnancy interval increased from 5.6 to 6.3 percent (relative increase, 12.5 percent), although nulliparity decreased from 42.8 to 40.0 percent (relative decrease, 6.5 percent). There was an increase seen in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy from 4.4 to 9.4 percent (relative increase, 113.6 percent).

"Although the absolute changes in risk factors were small, such differences can be important on a population-wide scale," the authors write.

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