Rainfall and long-term water availability in a region before a woman becomes pregnant and during pregnancy predicted future growth outcomes of children in Uganda, according to new research led by a team from the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and the Penn State College of Medicine. Environmental factors influence the availability of food, which, in turn, can affect a woman’s nutritional status before and during pregnancy. If a mother doesn’t eat enough or is under-nourished, the effect can be passed on to her child — the child may be born at a low birth weight or experience growth faltering.

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Women with blood pressure levels in a range considered clinically normal during pregnancy but no mid-pregnancy drop in blood pressure face an increased risk of developing hypertension in the five years after giving birth. These women—about 12% of the population studied—would not be flagged as high-risk by current medical guidelines, but the new findings could help identify them as candidates for early intervention.  Researchers collected data on blood pressure and other health factors from 854 women during pregnancy and up to five years postpartum. That longitudinal approach allowed them to map the trajectory of women’s blood pressure throughout pregnancy and to spot a link between specific blood pressure patterns and hypertension several years later. For most women in the study (80.2%), systolic blood pressure remained low throughout pregnancy. In 7.4% of women, blood pressure started out high, dropped during the second trimester, then increased again. A third group of women (12.4%) had slightly elevated systolic blood pressure that remained at a healthy level throughout pregnancy, but did not drop during the second trimester. Compared to the first group, these women faced a 4.91 times higher risk of hypertension in the five years after giving birth. The findings suggest that tracking blood pressure patterns during pregnancy could help identify this underrecognized group and plan interventions that may prevent cardiovascular disease.