Funding outcome

Pregnancy is a unique period in which a woman's heart and blood vessels, also known as the cardiovascular system, change dramatically. A mother's heart increases in size and pumps a greater volume of blood whilst her blood pressure stays the same, or lowers slightly compared to pre-pregnancy. These changes ensure optimal conditions for her baby to grow. However, some women have unhealthy changes that lead to high blood pressure during pregnancy. These complications, known as gestational hypertension and preeclampsia, are serious illnesses for mom, but also increase the risk of preterm birth and/or a small baby. Longer term, both mom and baby are also more likely to develop cardiovascular disease later in life. Blood pressure is controlled by the fight or flight part of the nervous system, known as the sympathetic system. We know that in healthy pregnant women, the sympathetic nervous system is more active compared to nonpregnant women, but in women with complicated pregnancies, this activity is even greater. The causes of very high sympathetic activity are not well understood, but this could be identified before pregnant women actually develop high blood pressure. We are interested in understanding how this changes during short-term stress. Short-term cardiovascular stress tests are used in other non-pregnant populations to predict the development of high blood pressure. Therefore, women at risk of developing high blood pressure may have poor responses to these tests. Short-term stress from placing a hand in cold water, known as the cold presser test, or maintaining a constant handgrip increase cardiovascular demand. How well a mom adapts to these tests may allow us to predict the development of high blood pressure during pregnancy. Understanding how cardiovascular stress tests can be used to predict the development of high blood pressure during pregnancy is therefore the aim of this research. We are recruiting ninety pregnant women (between 16 to 20 weeks of pregnancy) to complete a 2-hour study visit at the Program for Pregnancy and Postpartum Health, University of Alberta. Measurements of blood pressure and sympathetic nervous system activity are completed at rest, during the cold presser test and during constant handgrip. The outcome of this research is to develop simple, non-invasive tools that can be easily used to identify women at risk of high blood pressure during pregnancy. Early prediction of such women could improve the diagnosis and management of their pregnancies, leading to better treatment and outcomes for both mom and baby.