Blood pressure of infants of hypertensive mothers: a two-year follow-up.

This study was designed to determine if the blood pressure (BP) of infants in the first two years of life relates to the presence of maternal hypertension during pregnancy. The BP of infants was measured at birth, and at 9, 18, and 24 months after delivery. Women with elevated BP in pregnancy or labor (n = 190) were enrolled as cases. Two-hundred-and-one normotensive women served as controls. The cases were divided according to the time BP became elevated, i.e., before or after 24 weeks of pregnancy, and intrapartum only. The largest of the case groups was hypertensive intrapartum only. A minority of the case mothers had proteinuria in association with elevated BP. There were no differences in BP between case and control infants at bith or at 9 and 18 months of age. However, by 24 months of age, the systolic BP of the infants of case mothers was higher (p less than .05) than that of the infants of control mothers. No differences in systolic BP could be attributed to the time of onset of maternal hypertension.