Hypertension During Pregnancy and Future Risk of Cardiovascular and Other Long-Term Health Outcomes

  • 24k

    Total Downloads

  • 82k

    Total Views and Downloads

Download PDFDownload EPUB

Submit your idea

Select the journal/section where you want your idea to be submitted:

Submit your manuscript summarySubmit your manuscript

About this Research Topic

Submission closed

Background

Pregnancy-related conditions are increasingly recognised as important determinants of women's long-term health. Mothers with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), such as preeclampsia and gestational hypertension, have increased cardiometabolic health risks long after delivery. It has been hypothesised that pregnancy unmasks the underlying cardiometabolic health status of women, with HDP highlighting an elevated long-term risk of vascular disease. Others suggest that HDP could also have a direct impact on vasculature, with subsequent adverse health consequences. Regardless of the underlying cause, women with HDP have a more adverse cardiometabolic profile than those with normotensive pregnancy from as soon as the first five years post-pregnancy, continuing to later life.

Several uncertainties remain, including the effect of changing demographics and pregnancy comorbidities, optimal timing for risk identification and monitoring, and what post-pregnancy interventions are effective to alter a woman's adverse cardiovascular health trajectory after HDP. International trends are for mothers to be older, more often overweight/obese, and more likely to enter pregnancy with comorbidities including hypertension and diabetes. As background cardiovascular risk profile differs in relatively young and older ages, it remains unclear if HDP's impact on long-term health differs in older versus younger age mothers. As reproductive age women are unlikely to undergo routine cardiovascular risk assessment, knowing their obstetric history might allow us to identify those at increased risk who might benefit from an early intervention. However, the impact of using obstetric history to improve risk prediction over conventional risk assessment tools remain unproven. One approach could be to monitor blood pressure levels over time, as long-term cumulative blood pressure elevation is predictive of vascular outcomes. Furthermore, existing clinical guidelines are unclear regarding optimal periods for blood pressure monitoring in women after HDP.

Women with HDP may potentially benefit from appropriate lifestyle and/or pharmacologic intervention. However, there is yet no evidence from randomised trials to demonstrate what interventions, and at what time, will be effective in reducing long-term cardiovascular risks after HDP. Determining those at highest risks to identify those who are likely to benefit from an intervention could be useful. Co-occurrence or co-existence of hypertensive disorders with other perinatal conditions (e.g., gestational diabetes), and timing of the HDP (e.g., gestational age, parity, and inter-pregnancy interval) might amplify future disease risk. Characterising and replicating these risk patterns in detail across populations and over time might give insights not just into disease mechanisms but also inform ways for improving risk prediction assessments. Whilst we focus in this review on cardiovascular disease, HDP are also associated with other chronic conditions such as diabetes. As more women with incident cardiovascular disease already present in hospitals with comorbidities, the role of pregnancy-related conditions in lifelong multimorbidity requires further investigation.

We welcome investigators to contribute their perspectives on these issues, with the view to highlighting existing evidence, knowledge gaps and future research directions. Systematic reviews and evidence-based insights would be informative in this research area. As most studies tend to involve populations in high-income countries, we would particularly welcome contributions that provide perspectives for populations from low-to-middle-income countries.

Keywords: Preeclampsia, Gestational Hypertension, Hypertension During Pregnancy, Blood Pressure, Cardiovascular Disease

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

Topic editors

Frequently asked questions

  • Frontiers' Research Topics are collaborative hubs built around an emerging theme.Defined, managed, and led by renowned researchers, they bring communities together around a shared area of interest to stimulate collaboration and innovation.

    Unlike section journals, which serve established specialty communities, Research Topics are pioneer hubs, responding to the evolving scientific landscape and catering to new communities.

  • The goal of Frontiers' publishing program is to empower research communities to actively steer the course of scientific publishing. Our program was implemented as a three-part unit with fixed field journals, flexible specialty sections, and dynamically emerging Research Topics, connecting communities of different sizes and maturity.

    Research Topics originate from the scientific community. Many of our Research Topics are suggested by existing editorial board members who have identified critical challenges or areas of interest in their field.

  • As an editor, Research Topics will help you build your journal, as well as your community, around emerging, cutting-edge research. As research trailblazers, Research Topics attract high-quality submissions from leading experts all over the world.

    A thriving Research Topic can potentially evolve into a new specialty section if there is sustained interest and a growing community around it.

  • Each Research Topic must be approved by the specialty chief editor, and they fall under the editorial oversight of our editorial boards, supported by our in-house research integrity team. The same standards and rigorous peer review processes apply to articles published as part of a Research Topic as for any other article we publish.

      In 2023, 80% of the Research Topics we published were edited or co-edited by our editorial board members, who are already familiar with their journal's scope, ethos, and publishing model. All other topics are guest edited by leaders in their field, each vetted and formally approved by the specialty chief editor.

  • Publishing your article within a Research Topic with other related articles increases its discoverability and visibility, which can lead to more views, downloads, and citations. Research Topics grow dynamically as more published articles are added, causing frequent revisiting, and further visibility.

    As Research Topics are multidisciplinary, they are cross-listed in several fields and section journals – increasing your reach even more and giving you the chance to expand your network and collaborate with researchers in different fields, all focusing on expanding knowledge around the same important topic.

    Our larger Research Topics are also converted into ebooks and receive social media promotion from our digital marketing team.

     

  • Frontiers offers multiple article types, but it will depend on the field and section journals in which the Research Topic will be featured. The available article types for a Research Topic will appear in the drop-down menu during the submission process.

    Check available article types here 

  • Yes, we would love to hear your ideas for a topic. Most of our Research Topics are community-led and suggested by researchers in the field. Our in-house editorial team will contact you to talk about your idea and whether you’d like to edit the topic. If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. 

    Suggest your topic here 

  • A team of guest editors (called topic editors) lead their Research Topic. This editorial team oversees the entire process, from the initial topic proposal to calls for participation, the peer review, and final publications.

    The team may also include topic coordinators, who help the topic editors send calls for participation, liaise with topic editors on abstracts, and support contributing authors. In some cases, they can also be assigned as reviewers.

  • As a topic editor (TE), you will take the lead on all editorial decisions for the Research Topic, starting with defining its scope. This allows you to curate research around a topic that interests you, bring together different perspectives from leading researchers across different fields and shape the future of your field. 

     

    You will choose your team of co-editors, curate a list of potential authors, send calls for participation and oversee the peer review process, accepting or recommending rejection for each manuscript submitted.

  • As a topic editor, you're supported at every stage by our in-house team. You will be assigned a single point of contact to help you on both editorial and technical matters. Your topic is managed through our user-friendly online platform, and the peer review process is supported by our industry-first AI review assistant (AIRA).

  • If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. This provides you with valuable editorial experience, improving your ability to critically evaluate research articles and enhancing your understanding of the quality standards and requirements for scientific publishing, as well as the opportunity to discover new research in your field, and expand your professional network.

  • Yes, certificates can be issued on request. We are happy to provide a certificate for your contribution to editing a successful Research Topic.

  • Research Topics thrive on collaboration and their multi-disciplinary approach around emerging, cutting-edge themes, attract leading researchers from all over the world.

  • As a topic editor, you can set the timeline for your Research Topic, and we will work with you at your pace. Typically, Research Topics are online and open for submissions within a few weeks and remain open for participation for 6 – 12 months. Individual articles within a Research Topic are published as soon as they are ready.

    Find out more about our Research Topics

  • Our fee support program ensures that all articles that pass peer review, including those published in Research Topics, can benefit from open access – regardless of the author's field or funding situation.

    Authors and institutions with insufficient funding can apply for a discount on their publishing fees. A fee support application form is available on our website.

  • In line with our mission to promote healthy lives on a healthy planet, we do not provide printed materials. All our articles and ebooks are available under a CC-BY license, so you can share and print copies.

     

Impact

  • 82kTopic views
  • 54kArticle views
  • 24kArticle downloads
View impact