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Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in the United States increased from approximately 500 cases per 10,000 deliveries to 1,021 cases per 10,000 deliveries from 1993 to 2016-2017, and remain a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality, wrote Task Force Chair Michael J. Barry, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues in the final recommendation statement published in JAMA.
The USPSTF commissioned a systematic review to assess the risks and benefits of hypertensive screening for asymptomatic pregnant women. The resulting grade B recommendation indicates that screening for hypertensive disorders in pregnancy using blood pressure measurements yields a substantial net benefit.
The recommendation applies to “all pregnant women and pregnant persons of all genders without a known diagnosis of a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy or chronic hypertension,” the authors said.
The recommendation calls for the use of blood pressure measurements to evaluate hypertensive disorders, with measurements taken at each prenatal visit. A positive result for new-onset hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure 90 mm Hg in the absence of chronic hypertension, based on two measurements at least 4 hours apart. Regular review of blood pressure can help identify and manage potentially fatal conditions.
However, screening alone is insufficient to improve inequities in health outcomes associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, the authors emphasized. Data from previous studies have shown that Black patients are at increased risk for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and severe complications, and that Black and Hispanic patients have twice the risk of stroke with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy as White patients.
In the evidence report that supported the recommendation, Jillian T. Henderson, PhD, of Kaiser Permanente in Portland, Ore., and colleagues reviewed six studies including 10,165 individuals. The studies (five clinical trials and one nonrandomized study) compared changes in prenatal screening with usual care.
Overall, the review yielded no evidence that any other screening strategies were more useful than routine blood pressure measurement to identify hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in asymptomatic women.
The findings cited to support the recommendation were limited by several factors, including the lack of power to detect pregnancy health outcomes and potential harms of different screening programs, and the lack of power to evaluate outcomes for American Indian, Alaska Native, or Black individuals, who have disproportionately high rates of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, the authors said.
More research is needed to identify which screening approaches may lead to improved disease detection and better health outcomes, but the results of the review support the grade B recommendation for hypertensive screening of all pregnant women, they concluded.
Early identification makes a difference
The new recommendation is important because it can help all moms and babies to be healthier, said Wanda Nicholson, MD, vice chair of the task force, in an interview.
“We are recommending that all pregnant persons have a blood pressure check at every visit throughout pregnancy,” said Dr. Nicholson, an ob.gyn. by training who also serves as professor of prevention and community health at George Washington University in Washington. “We know that there is a maternal health crisis in this country, and we know that hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are one of the key factors related to that,” she said.
Unfortunately, barriers to routine screening for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy persist, said Dr. Nicholson. The incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy is higher in many of the same populations who also have challenges in accessing regular prenatal care, notably those who are Black, Native American, or Alaska Native, she noted.
The new recommendation also serves as an opportunity to call attention to the health care disparities for these populations, not only during pregnancy, but in general, she emphasized.
In clinical practice, the definition of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy involves three different diagnoses – gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and eclampsia – that can be seen as points on a continuum, said Dr. Nicholson. The sooner patients are identified with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, the sooner intervention and treatment can begin, she said. To that end, she added the clinical pearl of using a properly sized blood pressure cuff to obtain an accurate reading and avoid missed diagnoses.
The task force also outlined several key areas for additional research, said Dr. Nicholson. First, more research is needed on alternative screening strategies, such as at-home blood pressure monitoring for patients, as well as teleheath visits. Second, more studies are needed to address the disparities in prenatal care and include more diverse populations in clinical research. Third, future studies need to consider social determinants of health and other factors that might impact maternal health outcomes. “These steps will help achieve the larger goal of healthier mothers and babies,” Dr. Nicholson said.
Back to basics to improve women’s health
Some clinicians may be disappointed by the Evidence Report’s primary finding that no alternative screening strategies outperformed routine blood pressure measurement, wrote Anne E. Denoble, MD, and Christian M. Pettker, MD, both of Yale University, New Haven, Conn., in an accompanying editorial.
While potentially frustrating at first glance, the findings of the Evidence Report provide a foundation for improvement and reassurance that the best existing screening methods are basic and fundamental: regular prenatal visits with routine, in-office blood pressure measurements, and urine protein screening when clinically indicated, they said.
However, the USPSTF review also noted persistent research gaps that must be addressed to significantly improve maternal health outcomes, they said. Notable gaps include the disproportionately low numbers of Black patients in current studies, and the need for studies of alternate models of prenatal care, including the use of remote blood pressure monitoring, and the use of biomarkers to screen for and predict hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
The most striking limitation may be the focus on prenatal care, with lack of attention to postpartum mortality risk, given that more than half of pregnancy-related deaths occur postpartum, the authors noted.
Although current screening tools may be used in practice “with skill and might,” more effort at multiple levels is needed to address the larger maternal health crisis in the United States, they said.
Expand screening, engage primary care for long-term benefits
Screening for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy “can and should be within the purview of internists,” wrote Srilakshmi Mitta, MD; Cary P. Gross, MD; Melissa A. Simon, MD, of Brown University, Yale University, and Northwestern University, respectively, in a separate editorial. The recommendation to extend screening beyond preeclampsia is timely, given the consistent increase in all hypertensive disorders of pregnancy since 1990, the authors said.
Pregnancy is not the only time for screening, counseling, and management of hypertensive disorders, they emphasized. “All persons who have reproductive capacity and/or are planning pregnancy, along with those who are post partum, should be screened for hypertensive disorders, aligning the USPSTF with guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association,” they said, and all clinicians should be on board to identify and treat hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, especially in underserved racial and ethnic minorities for whom primary care may be their only source of health care.
“Pregnancy is a window of opportunity to influence current and future life course, not just of the individual, but also of the fetus(es),other children, and family,” and timely intervention has the potential for great public health impact, they said.
Dr. Denoble disclosed grants from the HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research and from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Dr. Simon serves on the Advisory Committee for Research on Women’s Health for the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health and serves as a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Community Preventive Services Task Force; she was a member of the USPSTF from 2017 to 2020. Dr. Gross disclosed grants from Johnson and Johnson and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (through a grant to the NCCN from AstraZeneca) and personal fees from Genentech.
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in the United States increased from approximately 500 cases per 10,000 deliveries to 1,021 cases per 10,000 deliveries from 1993 to 2016-2017, and remain a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality, wrote Task Force Chair Michael J. Barry, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues in the final recommendation statement published in JAMA.
The USPSTF commissioned a systematic review to assess the risks and benefits of hypertensive screening for asymptomatic pregnant women. The resulting grade B recommendation indicates that screening for hypertensive disorders in pregnancy using blood pressure measurements yields a substantial net benefit.
The recommendation applies to “all pregnant women and pregnant persons of all genders without a known diagnosis of a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy or chronic hypertension,” the authors said.
The recommendation calls for the use of blood pressure measurements to evaluate hypertensive disorders, with measurements taken at each prenatal visit. A positive result for new-onset hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure 90 mm Hg in the absence of chronic hypertension, based on two measurements at least 4 hours apart. Regular review of blood pressure can help identify and manage potentially fatal conditions.
However, screening alone is insufficient to improve inequities in health outcomes associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, the authors emphasized. Data from previous studies have shown that Black patients are at increased risk for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and severe complications, and that Black and Hispanic patients have twice the risk of stroke with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy as White patients.
In the evidence report that supported the recommendation, Jillian T. Henderson, PhD, of Kaiser Permanente in Portland, Ore., and colleagues reviewed six studies including 10,165 individuals. The studies (five clinical trials and one nonrandomized study) compared changes in prenatal screening with usual care.
Overall, the review yielded no evidence that any other screening strategies were more useful than routine blood pressure measurement to identify hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in asymptomatic women.
The findings cited to support the recommendation were limited by several factors, including the lack of power to detect pregnancy health outcomes and potential harms of different screening programs, and the lack of power to evaluate outcomes for American Indian, Alaska Native, or Black individuals, who have disproportionately high rates of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, the authors said.
More research is needed to identify which screening approaches may lead to improved disease detection and better health outcomes, but the results of the review support the grade B recommendation for hypertensive screening of all pregnant women, they concluded.
Early identification makes a difference
The new recommendation is important because it can help all moms and babies to be healthier, said Wanda Nicholson, MD, vice chair of the task force, in an interview.
“We are recommending that all pregnant persons have a blood pressure check at every visit throughout pregnancy,” said Dr. Nicholson, an ob.gyn. by training who also serves as professor of prevention and community health at George Washington University in Washington. “We know that there is a maternal health crisis in this country, and we know that hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are one of the key factors related to that,” she said.
Unfortunately, barriers to routine screening for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy persist, said Dr. Nicholson. The incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy is higher in many of the same populations who also have challenges in accessing regular prenatal care, notably those who are Black, Native American, or Alaska Native, she noted.
The new recommendation also serves as an opportunity to call attention to the health care disparities for these populations, not only during pregnancy, but in general, she emphasized.
In clinical practice, the definition of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy involves three different diagnoses – gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and eclampsia – that can be seen as points on a continuum, said Dr. Nicholson. The sooner patients are identified with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, the sooner intervention and treatment can begin, she said. To that end, she added the clinical pearl of using a properly sized blood pressure cuff to obtain an accurate reading and avoid missed diagnoses.
The task force also outlined several key areas for additional research, said Dr. Nicholson. First, more research is needed on alternative screening strategies, such as at-home blood pressure monitoring for patients, as well as teleheath visits. Second, more studies are needed to address the disparities in prenatal care and include more diverse populations in clinical research. Third, future studies need to consider social determinants of health and other factors that might impact maternal health outcomes. “These steps will help achieve the larger goal of healthier mothers and babies,” Dr. Nicholson said.
Back to basics to improve women’s health
Some clinicians may be disappointed by the Evidence Report’s primary finding that no alternative screening strategies outperformed routine blood pressure measurement, wrote Anne E. Denoble, MD, and Christian M. Pettker, MD, both of Yale University, New Haven, Conn., in an accompanying editorial.
While potentially frustrating at first glance, the findings of the Evidence Report provide a foundation for improvement and reassurance that the best existing screening methods are basic and fundamental: regular prenatal visits with routine, in-office blood pressure measurements, and urine protein screening when clinically indicated, they said.
However, the USPSTF review also noted persistent research gaps that must be addressed to significantly improve maternal health outcomes, they said. Notable gaps include the disproportionately low numbers of Black patients in current studies, and the need for studies of alternate models of prenatal care, including the use of remote blood pressure monitoring, and the use of biomarkers to screen for and predict hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
The most striking limitation may be the focus on prenatal care, with lack of attention to postpartum mortality risk, given that more than half of pregnancy-related deaths occur postpartum, the authors noted.
Although current screening tools may be used in practice “with skill and might,” more effort at multiple levels is needed to address the larger maternal health crisis in the United States, they said.
Expand screening, engage primary care for long-term benefits
Screening for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy “can and should be within the purview of internists,” wrote Srilakshmi Mitta, MD; Cary P. Gross, MD; Melissa A. Simon, MD, of Brown University, Yale University, and Northwestern University, respectively, in a separate editorial. The recommendation to extend screening beyond preeclampsia is timely, given the consistent increase in all hypertensive disorders of pregnancy since 1990, the authors said.
Pregnancy is not the only time for screening, counseling, and management of hypertensive disorders, they emphasized. “All persons who have reproductive capacity and/or are planning pregnancy, along with those who are post partum, should be screened for hypertensive disorders, aligning the USPSTF with guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association,” they said, and all clinicians should be on board to identify and treat hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, especially in underserved racial and ethnic minorities for whom primary care may be their only source of health care.
“Pregnancy is a window of opportunity to influence current and future life course, not just of the individual, but also of the fetus(es),other children, and family,” and timely intervention has the potential for great public health impact, they said.
Dr. Denoble disclosed grants from the HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research and from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Dr. Simon serves on the Advisory Committee for Research on Women’s Health for the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health and serves as a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Community Preventive Services Task Force; she was a member of the USPSTF from 2017 to 2020. Dr. Gross disclosed grants from Johnson and Johnson and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (through a grant to the NCCN from AstraZeneca) and personal fees from Genentech.
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in the United States increased from approximately 500 cases per 10,000 deliveries to 1,021 cases per 10,000 deliveries from 1993 to 2016-2017, and remain a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality, wrote Task Force Chair Michael J. Barry, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues in the final recommendation statement published in JAMA.
The USPSTF commissioned a systematic review to assess the risks and benefits of hypertensive screening for asymptomatic pregnant women. The resulting grade B recommendation indicates that screening for hypertensive disorders in pregnancy using blood pressure measurements yields a substantial net benefit.
The recommendation applies to “all pregnant women and pregnant persons of all genders without a known diagnosis of a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy or chronic hypertension,” the authors said.
The recommendation calls for the use of blood pressure measurements to evaluate hypertensive disorders, with measurements taken at each prenatal visit. A positive result for new-onset hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure 90 mm Hg in the absence of chronic hypertension, based on two measurements at least 4 hours apart. Regular review of blood pressure can help identify and manage potentially fatal conditions.
However, screening alone is insufficient to improve inequities in health outcomes associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, the authors emphasized. Data from previous studies have shown that Black patients are at increased risk for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and severe complications, and that Black and Hispanic patients have twice the risk of stroke with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy as White patients.
In the evidence report that supported the recommendation, Jillian T. Henderson, PhD, of Kaiser Permanente in Portland, Ore., and colleagues reviewed six studies including 10,165 individuals. The studies (five clinical trials and one nonrandomized study) compared changes in prenatal screening with usual care.
Overall, the review yielded no evidence that any other screening strategies were more useful than routine blood pressure measurement to identify hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in asymptomatic women.
The findings cited to support the recommendation were limited by several factors, including the lack of power to detect pregnancy health outcomes and potential harms of different screening programs, and the lack of power to evaluate outcomes for American Indian, Alaska Native, or Black individuals, who have disproportionately high rates of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, the authors said.
More research is needed to identify which screening approaches may lead to improved disease detection and better health outcomes, but the results of the review support the grade B recommendation for hypertensive screening of all pregnant women, they concluded.
Early identification makes a difference
The new recommendation is important because it can help all moms and babies to be healthier, said Wanda Nicholson, MD, vice chair of the task force, in an interview.
“We are recommending that all pregnant persons have a blood pressure check at every visit throughout pregnancy,” said Dr. Nicholson, an ob.gyn. by training who also serves as professor of prevention and community health at George Washington University in Washington. “We know that there is a maternal health crisis in this country, and we know that hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are one of the key factors related to that,” she said.
Unfortunately, barriers to routine screening for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy persist, said Dr. Nicholson. The incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy is higher in many of the same populations who also have challenges in accessing regular prenatal care, notably those who are Black, Native American, or Alaska Native, she noted.
The new recommendation also serves as an opportunity to call attention to the health care disparities for these populations, not only during pregnancy, but in general, she emphasized.
In clinical practice, the definition of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy involves three different diagnoses – gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and eclampsia – that can be seen as points on a continuum, said Dr. Nicholson. The sooner patients are identified with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, the sooner intervention and treatment can begin, she said. To that end, she added the clinical pearl of using a properly sized blood pressure cuff to obtain an accurate reading and avoid missed diagnoses.
The task force also outlined several key areas for additional research, said Dr. Nicholson. First, more research is needed on alternative screening strategies, such as at-home blood pressure monitoring for patients, as well as teleheath visits. Second, more studies are needed to address the disparities in prenatal care and include more diverse populations in clinical research. Third, future studies need to consider social determinants of health and other factors that might impact maternal health outcomes. “These steps will help achieve the larger goal of healthier mothers and babies,” Dr. Nicholson said.
Back to basics to improve women’s health
Some clinicians may be disappointed by the Evidence Report’s primary finding that no alternative screening strategies outperformed routine blood pressure measurement, wrote Anne E. Denoble, MD, and Christian M. Pettker, MD, both of Yale University, New Haven, Conn., in an accompanying editorial.
While potentially frustrating at first glance, the findings of the Evidence Report provide a foundation for improvement and reassurance that the best existing screening methods are basic and fundamental: regular prenatal visits with routine, in-office blood pressure measurements, and urine protein screening when clinically indicated, they said.
However, the USPSTF review also noted persistent research gaps that must be addressed to significantly improve maternal health outcomes, they said. Notable gaps include the disproportionately low numbers of Black patients in current studies, and the need for studies of alternate models of prenatal care, including the use of remote blood pressure monitoring, and the use of biomarkers to screen for and predict hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
The most striking limitation may be the focus on prenatal care, with lack of attention to postpartum mortality risk, given that more than half of pregnancy-related deaths occur postpartum, the authors noted.
Although current screening tools may be used in practice “with skill and might,” more effort at multiple levels is needed to address the larger maternal health crisis in the United States, they said.
Expand screening, engage primary care for long-term benefits
Screening for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy “can and should be within the purview of internists,” wrote Srilakshmi Mitta, MD; Cary P. Gross, MD; Melissa A. Simon, MD, of Brown University, Yale University, and Northwestern University, respectively, in a separate editorial. The recommendation to extend screening beyond preeclampsia is timely, given the consistent increase in all hypertensive disorders of pregnancy since 1990, the authors said.
Pregnancy is not the only time for screening, counseling, and management of hypertensive disorders, they emphasized. “All persons who have reproductive capacity and/or are planning pregnancy, along with those who are post partum, should be screened for hypertensive disorders, aligning the USPSTF with guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association,” they said, and all clinicians should be on board to identify and treat hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, especially in underserved racial and ethnic minorities for whom primary care may be their only source of health care.
“Pregnancy is a window of opportunity to influence current and future life course, not just of the individual, but also of the fetus(es),other children, and family,” and timely intervention has the potential for great public health impact, they said.
Dr. Denoble disclosed grants from the HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research and from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Dr. Simon serves on the Advisory Committee for Research on Women’s Health for the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health and serves as a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Community Preventive Services Task Force; she was a member of the USPSTF from 2017 to 2020. Dr. Gross disclosed grants from Johnson and Johnson and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (through a grant to the NCCN from AstraZeneca) and personal fees from Genentech.
FROM JAMA