High Blood Pressure and Pregnancy

New research finds an increasing number of moms-to-be are prescribed drugs to treat hypertension. While two drugs, methyldopa and labetalol, are generally preferred for use during pregnancy, others were also prescribed. These included ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, which have been found to cause harmful side effects especially during the second and third trimesters.

These are the findings of a study in the journal Hypertension, a publication of the American Heart Association. Harvard researchers studied a database of more than 1 million Medicaid patients. Nearly 50-thousand filled prescriptions for high blood pressure drugs during their pregnancies.

With that, the researchers say it’s urgent to further study the safest way to treat hypertensive moms-to-be.