Long term effects of gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia on kidney function: Record linkage study

Objective: To assess the long term effects of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy on renal function.

Design: Cohort study where exposure was gestational hypertension or preeclampsia in the first pregnancy. Normotensive women formed the comparison group.

Setting: Aberdeen, Scotland.

Participants: All women with date of birth on or before 30th June 1969 and at least their first singleton delivery recorded in the Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Databank.

Methods: Participants were linked to the Renal Biochemistry Register, Scottish Morbidity Records, Scottish Renal Registry and National Register for deaths.

Main outcme measures: Occurrence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) as identified from renal function tests in later life, hospital admissions or death from kidney disease or recorded as receiving renal replacement therapy.

Results: CKD was diagnosed in 7.5% and 5.2% of women who previously had GH and PE respectively compared to 3.9% in normotensive women. The unadjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of having CKD in PE was 2.04 (1.53, 2.71) and that for GH was 1.37 (1.15, 1.65), while the adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of CKD was 1.93 (1.44, 2.57) and 1.36 (1.13, 1.63) in women with PE and GH respectively. Kaplan–Meier curves of survival time to development of chronic kidney disease revealed that women with preeclampsia were susceptible to kidney function impairment earliest, followed by those with gestational hypertension.

Conclusions: There was an increased subsequent risk of CKD associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Women with GH and PE were also found to have CKD earlier than normotensive women.