by Claudia Boyd-Barrett posted in Pregnancy

Making sure you have healthy blood pressure before you get pregnant could help prevent miscarriage, a new study suggests.
Researchers followed more than 1,200 women who previously lost a baby and were trying to get pregnant again. Almost 800 succeeded in becoming pregnant, but about a quarter had another miscarriage.
The scientists analyzed the data, taking into account known risk factors for miscarriage such as smoking and obesity. They found that high blood pressure didn't impact the women's chances of getting pregnant again.
However, if their blood pressure before pregnancy was even slightly above normal, the women's chances of miscarriage increased, the study found. For example, a 10-point increase in diastolic blood pressure (the lower number in a blood pressure reading), increased the risk of miscarriage by almost 20%, according to the results published in Hypertension.
These findings don't prove high blood pressure causes miscarriage, only that there's an association. Also, the researchers only studied women who'd already suffered a miscarriage, so these findings may not apply to all women.
Miscarriage can happen for a variety of other reasons, including chromosomal abnormalities, uterine or cervical problems and uncontrolled diabetes. Often, doctors can't determine why a miscarriage happened.
Keeping your blood pressure under control is important for your health. If you have hypertension and plan to become pregnant, t...