Abstract
Chronic hypertension in pregnancy is traditionally classified according to degree
of blood pressure (BP) elevation. Alternatively, stratifying women as high or low
risk based on the etiology of hypertension, baseline work-up, and comorbid medical
conditions will better inform clinicians about thresholds to initiate antihypertensive
therapy, target BPs, frequency of antepartum visits, and timing of delivery. Women
classified as high-risk chronic hypertension as described here require stricter BP
management and more frequent follow-up visits as their associated rates of adverse
maternal and/or fetal/neonatal outcomes appear higher than women classified as low-risk
chronic hypertension. The latter group can in most cases be managed similarly to the
general obstetric population.
Keywords
chronic hypertension in pregnancy - high-risk chronic hypertension - low-risk chronic
hypertension - management of chronic hypertension - classification - chronic hypertension
