Maternal and fetal morbidity following discontinuation of antihypertensive drugs in mild to moderate chronic hypertension: A 4-year observational study.

OBJECTIVE

To assess maternal and fetal morbidity in women with mild to moderate chronic hypertension on antihypertensive drug therapy compared to cessation of therapy.

METHODS

This was a prospective observational study included 222 women with mild to moderate chronic hypertension (systolic blood pressure of 140-159mmHg or diastolic blood pressure of 90-109mmHg) who were divided into two groups based on antihypertensive drug intake, treatment group (n=104) who received methyl dopa, and non-treatment group (n=118) who used only low dose aspirin. Patients were followed to assess maternal and fetal outcome.

RESULTS

There were significant differences between the two groups regarding the development of severe hypertension (p<0.001), renal impairment (p<0.001), ECG changes (p<0.001), placental abruption (p<0.05), repeated hospital admissions (p<0.001), preterm delivery (p<0.05) and neonatal ICU admission (p<0.05) with higher occurrence in the non-treatment group. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of the development of preeclampsia, hepatic impairment, mode of delivery, venous thromboembolism, small for gestational age, intrauterine fetal demise or neonatal mortality (p>0.05).

CONCLUSION

Maternal and fetal morbidity is increased following cessation of antihypertensive drug use in patients with mild to moderate chronic hypertension. Further larger studies are warranted to confirm or refute our findings.