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News
About 15% of women who had severe hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) experienced a recurrence in a later pregnancy, with the highest risk tied to early-onset cases. Women whose HDP struck before 28 weeks faced a recurrence rate exceeding 22%. Experts say these findings can sharpen counseling, improve monitoring, and highlight the long-term cardiovascular risks that follow these pregnancies.
A large retrospective cohort study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology found that roughly 15% of women with a history of severe hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) — including preeclampsia with severe features, HELLP syndrome, and eclampsia — experienced a recurrence in a subsequent pregnancy. The risk wasn't uniform: the earlier and more severe the first episode, the higher the chances of it happening again.
Encouragingly, when severe preeclampsia did recur, it most often appeared at a later gestational age than the first time. Still, experts stress these findings should reshape how clinicians counsel and monitor high-risk patients — and prompt a longer-term view of women's cardiovascular health, since preeclampsia is a known risk factor for future heart disease.
By the numbers:
22% recurrence risk when index HDP occurred before 34 weeks' gestation
Why it matters: These findings give clinicians a more precise, severity- and timing-based framework for counseling patients about future pregnancy risks — moving beyond one-size-fits-all estimates. They also underscore the need for better prevention tools (like wider use of low-dose aspirin) and long-term cardiovascular follow-up for women with a history of HDP.
