There’s an increased risk that women with high blood pressure while they’re pregnant will have children who have seizures, according to a new study led by researchers at University of Iowa Health Care.
The study, which included other researchers from Stanford University and in Taiwan, was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
In a news release, the university said the findings suggest inflammation in the brain could play a role in the relationship between gestational hypertension and seizure risk, offering a potential target to prevent seizures in children whose mom had high blood pressure while they were in the womb.
Just over 1 in 6 pregnant women have gestational hypertension, which has been associated with various complications for both the mothers and the babies they carry. The researchers say this is the first large-scale study showing a link between high blood pressure and increased seizure risk in offspring
