Glucose intolerance as a predictor of hypertension in pregnancy

Abstract

Insulin resistance is associated with and may be causal in essential hypertension, but the relation between insulin resistance and hypertension arising de novo in pregnancy is unclear. Transient hypertension of pregnancy (new-onset nonproteinuric hypertension of late pregnancy) is associated with a high risk of later essential hypertension and thus may have similar pathophysiology. To assess the association between glucose intolerance and subsequent development of proteinuric and nonproteinuric hypertension in pregnancy in women without underlying essential hypertension or overt glucose intolerance, we performed a retrospective case-control study comparing glucose levels on routine screening for gestational diabetes mellitus among women subsequently developing hypertension. Women who developed hypertension in pregnancy (n=97) had significantly higher glucose levels on 50-g oral glucose loading test (P