[Prospective Study of Arterial Pressure During Pregnancy. Prediction of Hypertensive Complications]

A prospective study of measure of blood pressure was conducted in 366 pregnant women at each antenatal visit, using an automatic random-zéro sphygmomanometer. In fourteen patients, among 244 primigravidae, who developed preeclampsia, systolic and diastolic arterial blood pressures were already significantly elevated by 13-16 weeks of pregnancy. This difference was sustained throughout until delivery. In addition, the systolic and diastolic arterial blood pressure, in those women destined to develop preeclampsia, did not show a dip between 13-20 weeks as in the normotensive group. There was no difference in arterial blood pressure during pregnancy between primigravidae and multigravidae who remained normotensive.