Pregnancy Induced Hypertension as a Risk Marker of Cardiovascular Diseases in Indian Women

Labhita Das

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in later life. DATA SOURCE: (NFHS-4) METHODS: The cross-sectional data was used to draw the symptoms of Preeclampsia and Eclampsia. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to see the association of the symptoms of Preeclampsia and Eclampsia with development of heart diseases among the women adjusting for various lifestyle, behavioral, socioeconomic and health related factors. RESULTS: 1.62% of women with symptoms of preeclampsia developed cardiovascular diseases which is 0.79% among the women not showing preeclampsia symptoms. Among the women not suffering from Eclampsia 0.8% reported heart disease and among the Eclamptic women 1.81% reported of having heart disease. In the multivariate model the likelihood of having cardiovascular diseases was significantly higher among preeclamptic and eclamptic women. CONCLUSION: Pregnancy induced hypertension is positively associated with development of cardiovascular diseases later in life.