Changes in Cardiac Structure ID'd in Latinas With Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy

FRIDAY, Dec. 8, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Hispanic/Latina women with a history of de novo hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) have detectable subclinical alterations in cardiac structure, according to a study published online Dec. 4 in Hypertension.

Odayme Quesada, M.D., from The Christ Hospital Heart, Vascular, and Lung Institute in Cincinnati, and colleagues conducted a multicenter community-based cohort study involving Hispanic/Latino adults recruited in 2008 to 2011 to evaluate the associations of history of de novo HDP (gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and eclampsia) with echocardiographic measures of cardiac structure and function.

A total of 5,168 Hispanic/Latina women with one or more prior pregnancies, with an average age of 58.7 years at the time of echocardiogram, were included in the study. The researchers found that 14 percent of the women had prior de novo HDP; after adjustment for blood pressure and other confounders, prior de novo HDP was associated with lower left ventricle (LV) ejection fraction (−0.66), higher LV relative wall thickness (0.09), and a higher risk for abnormal LV geometry (1.39). Current hypertension mediated 0.09, 0.28, 0.14, 0.31, and 0.58 of the association between HDP and LV ejection fraction, LV relative wall thickness, abnormal LV geometry, concentric left ventricular hypertrophy, and abnormal LV diastolic dysfunction, respectively.

"These findings appear to be in part mediated by current hypertension -- underscoring the importance of screening for and managing hypertension," the authors write.

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