NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Doctors are spreading awareness about serious heart conditions that can pop up during and after pregnancy.
After the sudden death of Olympian Tori Bowie earlier this spring, a doctor specializing in cardiovascular complications in pregnancy spoke to NewsChannel 5.
"Even people with normal blood pressures when they're not pregnant can develop hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, which includes preeclampsia," said Dr. Kathryn Lindley, a cardiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Bowie, the track star, was eight months pregnant when she was found dead. In her autopsy that was just released, it said the athlete suffered possible pregnancy complications including respiratory distress and eclampsia. Eclampsia can follow preeclampsia when that condition is not caught.
The Vanderbilt doctor recommends buying a blood pressure cuff to use at home to monitor your levels.
"We now try to keep patients' blood pressures to less than about 140/90, but if it's more than 160/110 that's really what I call the red zone, where patients are really at high risk of having problems like high blood pressure, heart attacks and seizures," Dr. Lindley said.
High blood pressure in the third trimester can be a symptom of preeclampsia which occurs in about 5-10% of pregnancies.
"[The blood pressure] can start to get elevated and sometimes people also have protein in their urine, headaches, vision changes and pain in their belly," Dr. Lindley said.
Treatment for preeclampsia includes magnesium, medicine or delivery of the baby.
Fortunately, most patients are healthy and only need to see their OBGYN or nurse-midwife for the majority of their pregnancy.
If you recently delivered at Vanderbilt and were diagnosed with a hypertensive disorder doctors want to hear from you.
Researchers are sending patients remote blood pressure monitoring devices to use at home in hopes to better treat issues like preeclampsia in the future.
