Hemodynamic changes in pregnancy: does central blood pressure have any role?

ABSTRACT

Pregnancy is associated with alteration in the hemodynamic state. In clinical practice, only peripheral blood pressure is measured; however, central blood pressure is a better predictor of cardiovascular events. We have investigated variations in peripheral blood pressure, central blood pressure, and augmentation index in healthy non-pregnant and pregnant women. This was a cross-sectional study of 107 pregnant women (I trimester n = 19, II trimester n = 39, and III trimester n = 49) and age-matched 53 non-pregnant women (Follicular phase n = 25 and luteal phase n = 28). The augmentation index showed a significant decrease with the progression of pregnancy. Central systolic blood pressure showed a decreasing trend (non-significant) with the progression of pregnancy. Heart rate shows a significant increase from follicular to luteal phase in non-pregnant women, which further increases with the progression of pregnancy. Longitudinal studies involving larger sample sizes might provide some insights into the significance of including central blood pressure and augmentation index for routine checkups in both non-pregnant and pregnant women.

KEYWORDS:

• Aortic pressure
• hypertension
• hypertensive disorders of pregnancy
• pregnancy-induced hypertension

Acknowledgments

We are extremely grateful to our study participants for their voluntary participation. We also thank our staff for extending their support throughout the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author’s contributions

NP conceived the idea, designed the study, collected data, drafted, and finally reviewed the manuscript; SCS helped in collecting data and drafted manuscript; PS recruited subjects and clinically examined them; SM helped in collecting data and reviewing literature; MG analyzed the data and drafted manuscript; BNR reviewed the literature and reviewed the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this research work.