Understanding Blood Pressure Changes After Birth
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A prospective cohort study, understanding blood pressure changes in the immediate twelve weeks postpartum for women who had a hypertensive disorder in pregnancy and how existing care pathways identify and monitor women at risk of cardiovascular disease.
IRAS ID
300664
Contact name
Elaine Sheehan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
St George's University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 19 days
Research summary
Blood pressure (BP) disorders occur in approximately 10% of pregnancies. Women who experience BP problems in pregnancy are at higher risk of developing heart disease, high BP or having a stroke in later life than women who did not have BP problems. Although identifying and monitoring pregnant women with BP disorders is very efficient, there are minimal efforts to monitor women at risk of health problems after pregnancy.
This research aims to investigate how women’s BP responds after birth and assess the time it takes to return to normal ranges. This will be calculated by participants undertaking three consecutive days of home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM), every fortnight from birth until twelve weeks postpartum. At twelve weeks postpartum, women will have a twenty-four ambulatory blood pressure assessment as part of the study as it is not standard practice. This will highlight the prevalence of persistent high BP and how often GPs will need to monitor women’s BP as part of routine care in the immediate few weeks after birth.
Women will be asked to complete a questionnaire after their eight week GP appointment, assessing if women recall having their BP checked and/or the risks of heart disease explained to them and if they received any lifestyle advice to reduce these risks. Women will be asked to complete a second questionnaire at twelve weeks postpartum assessing their acceptance and preference of home and twenty four hour blood pressure monitoring. The duration of the study will be twelve weeks for each participant and no further follow up will be required.
This research aims to identify any gaps in the current care of women in the postnatal period and use this information to provide better quality of care to women so they can reduce their risk of heart disease.REC name
London - West London & GTAC Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/PR/1624
Date of REC Opinion
6 Dec 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion