What is gestational hypertension?
Gestational hypertension is high blood pressure in pregnancy. It occurs in about 3 in 50 pregnancies. This condition is different from chronic hypertension. Chronic hypertension happens when a woman has high blood pressure before she gets pregnant.
What is pathophysiology of gestational diabetes?
GDM is usually the result of β-cell dysfunction on a background of chronic insulin resistance during pregnancy and thus both β-cell impairment and tissue insulin resistance represent critical components of the pathophysiology of GDM.
What causes hypertension during pregnancy?
Unhealthy lifestyle choices may lead to high blood pressure during pregnancy. Being overweight or obese, or not staying active are major risk factors for high blood pressure.
How is the pathophysiology of preeclampsia characterized?
Preeclampsia is a syndrome characterized by the onset of hypertension and proteinuria or hypertension and end-organ dysfunction with or without proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation (table 1).
When does gestational hypertension occur?
Gestational hypertension is high blood pressure that you develop while you are pregnant. It starts after you are 20 weeks pregnant. You usually don’t have any other symptoms. In many cases, it does not harm you or your baby, and it goes away within 12 weeks after childbirth.
What physiological changes occur during pregnancy that increase the risk for gestational diabetes?
An increased requirement for nutrients is given by fetal growth and fat deposition. Changes are caused by steroid hormones, lactogen, and cortisol. Maternal insulin resistance can lead to gestational diabetes. Increased liver metabolism is also seen, with increased gluconeogenesis to increase maternal glucose levels.
What are the complications of hypertension in pregnancy?
Complications from high blood pressure for the mother and infant can include the following: For the mother: preeclampsia , eclampsia , stroke, the need for labor induction (giving medicine to start labor to give birth), and placental abruption (the placenta separating from the wall of the uterus).
How does maternal hypertension affect the fetus?
High blood pressure during pregnancy can affect the development of the placenta, causing the nutrient and oxygen supply to the baby to be limited. This can lead to an early delivery, low birth weight, placental separation (abruption) and other complications for the baby.
What causes hypertension in preeclampsia?
An initiating event in preeclampsia has been postulated to be reduced placental perfusion that leads to widespread dysfunction of the maternal vascular endothelium by mechanisms that remain to be defined (see Figure). Potential mechanisms whereby chronic reductions in uteroplacental perfusion may lead to hypertension.
What is the mechanism of preeclampsia?
In normal pregnancy, the placenta produces modest concentrations of VEGF, PlGF, and sFlt-1. In preeclampsia, excess placental sFlt-1 binds circulating VEGF and PlGF and prevents their interaction with endothelial cell-surface receptors leading to endothelial dysfunction.