High blood pressure during pregnancy can cause later heart problems

Women with high blood pressure during pregnancy are more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke within the next two decades.

Researchers found women who had hypertension while expecting had up to 80 per cent greater odds of a stroke in later life.

While those who experienced pre-eclampsia – a pregnancy complication marked by high blood pressure – had a three-fold higher risk of heart attacks.

The dangers rose if women more than one affected pregnancy, according to experts behind the study.

High blood pressure puts extra strain on your blood vessels and heart, causing them to weaken.

Developing high blood pressure when you’re pregnant could also be an early warning of an underlying problem, scientists say.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge and the University of Bristol examined data for 6.3million women in English hospitals between 1997 and 2015.

Women with high blood pressure were 45 per cent more likely to develop a serious heart condition than those unaffected.

Three in every 1,000 first-time mothers who had normal blood pressure went on to develop heart and circulatory diseases after their pregnancy.

But for women who had high blood pressure during pregnancy, this rose to five in every 1,000 – meaning an extra two per every 1,000.