OBJECTIVETo explore the perpetual impact of pregnancy-induced hypertension on blood pressure.

METHODSThis retrospective cohort study included 782 cases of pregnant women who hospitalized at Kailuan Linxi hospital between October 1976 and August 2001. Patients were divided to with pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH, n = 77) group and non pregnancy induced hypertension (NPIH, n = 705) group. Patients were followed for 5 to 34 years (mean 18.8 +/- 5.3 years), the incidence of essential hypertension was obtained in July 2006-September 2007.

RESULTS(1) The cumulative incidence of essential hypertension during follow up was significantly high in PIH group (29.87%) than that in NPIH group 18.87% (P = 0.022). (2) At the final follow up, waist circumference; [(86.06 +/- 10.15) cm vs. (83.07 +/- 8.19) cm, P = 0.015], BMI [(24.83 +/- 4.01) kg/m(2) vs. (23.50 +/- 3.39) kg/m(2), P = 0.006], TC [(5.11 +/- 0.88) mmol/L vs. (4.89 +/- 0.94) mmol/L, P = 0.045] and GLU [(5.57 +/- 1.78) mmol/L vs. (5.20 +/- 1.38) mmol/L, P = 0.010] were all significantly higher in PIH group than those in NPIH group. (3) After adjustment of age and BMI, PIH was still significantly correlated with long-term systolic blood pressure levels (P = 0.048), fasting glucose level was also significantly associated with long-term systolic blood pressure. Age, BMI, white blood cell count and uric acid were also predictors for perpetual systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels.

CONCLUSIONSIncidence of essential hypertension in women with PIH was higher than that in women without PIH. After adjustment of covariates including age, BMI, and glucose, PIH was significantly associated with the level of systolic blood pressure. BMI, fasting glucose and cholesterol levels might contribute to the increase of systolic blood pressure in patients with PIH.