Print this topic

HealthInfo Canterbury

High blood pressure & pre-eclampsia in pregnancy

It's important to monitor your blood pressure during pregnancy.

Some women develop high blood pressure (hypertension) when they're pregnant and may need treatment. Other women may have high blood pressure before becoming pregnant and may need changes to their medication.

All women with high blood pressure in pregnancy need close monitoring. Sometimes, high blood pressure in pregnancy can be part of a serious pregnancy condition called pre-eclampsia.

As well as high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia can cause you to lose protein through your urine (proteinuria). Severe pre-eclampsia can affect your kidneys, brain, liver, blood clotting system and placenta.

Symptoms of pre-eclampsia

With pre-eclampsia you can have:

Important

Get immediate medical advice if you develop any of these symptoms during your pregnancy.

  HealthInfo recommends the following videos

  HealthInfo recommends the following pages

Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed December 2021.

Page reference: 47500

Review key: HIHCP-311277