Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring during pregnancy: an Italian experience

Abstract

Objective: To describe the impact of a collaborative Italian diagnostic pathway offering ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring (ABPM) in High Risk Antenatal Clinic (HRAC) pregnant women. The study included 395 pregnant women evaluated at HRAC between 2012 and 2016, while analyzing demographic, clinical characteristics, and prescription of ABPM. Pregnant women were firstly seen when gestational age was 19.6 ± 9.6 weeks. In at least one-third of cases, ABPM was followed by medical intervention aiming to modify the pre-existing therapeutic treatment. Hypertension and overweight were the main reasons for performing ABPM. WCH: white-coat hypertension.

Keywords

• high risk antenatal clinic
• pregnancy
• hypertension
• obesity
• ambulatory blood pressure monitoring