High blood pressure during pregnancy is increasingly common, largely due to older age and obesity. Although there is widespread agreement that hypertension in these women should be treated when it is high enough to raise the risk of stroke, there is little agreement about whether or how to treat mild hypertension.
In a study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, investigators from Canada reported on 986 hypertensive pregnant women who had diastolic blood pressure of 90 to 105 mm Hg (or, for women already taking a blood pressure drug, 85 to 105 mm Hg). The women were randomized to less tight blood pressure control (target diastolic blood pressure, 100 mm Hg) or tight blood pressure control (target, 85 mm Hg). Three-quarters of the women had hypertension predating their pregnancy.
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