Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Ambitious trial inspires a rethink on a common ailment of pregnancy

The standard practice of treating only severe cases of high blood pressure during pregnancy might be misguided.
A pregnant woman getting her blood pressure checked by a doctor at a health care facility.

A trial of pregnant women found that drug treatment for mild hypertension brought benefits for both women and their babies. Credit: Getty

Many pregnant people develop chronic high blood pressure, which raises the risk of an array of serious health problems — and even death — for both parent and baby. Doctors usually treat pregnant people for severely elevated blood pressure, but whether to treat those with mild elevation has been controversial.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 604, 405 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00981-z

Editor’s note: Nature recognizes that transgender men and non-binary people can become pregnant. We use ‘women’ in this story to reflect the language used in the study.

References

  1. Tita, A. T. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2201295 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Greene, M. F. & Williams, W. W. N. Engl. J. Med. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMe2203388 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links