10-Year cardiovascular event risks for women who experienced hypertensive disorders in late pregnancy: the HyRAS study

Women with a history of preeclampsia or gestational hypertension will be invited to participate in a cohort study 2 1/2 years after delivery. Participants will be screened for established modifiable cardiovascular risk indicators. The primary outcome is the 10-year cardiovascular event risk. Secondary outcomes include differences in cardiovascular parameters, SNP's in glucose metabolism, and neonatal outcome.This study will provide evidence on the potential health gains of a modifiable cardiovascular risk factor screening program for women whose pregnancy was complicated by hypertension or preeclampsia. The calculation of individual 10-year cardiovascular event risks will allow identification of those women who will benefit from primary prevention by tailored interventions, at a relatively young age.The HYPITAT trial is registered in the clinical trial register as ISRCTN08132825.Cardiovascular disease is the cause of death of 32% of women in the Netherlands [1]. Not all women are at the same risk of cardiovascular disease. Prediction of risk in younger women is particularly difficult due to low sensitive and specific tests for these women. Identification of individual women at higher risk is a challenge. This proposal takes an innovative angle to gain insight in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality later in life in women using pregnancy related hypertensive complications. Approximately 10% to 15% of all pregnancies are complicated by hypertension and largely contribute to maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. In the Netherlands it is the largest single cause of maternal mortality [2]. The vast majority of hypertensive disorders present themselves after 36 weeks of gestation [3]. Therefore, we focus in this study on those women with pregnancy related hypertensive complications (near) at term (> 36 weeks gestation).The etiology of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy is not fully understood, but the causal treatment is delivery of the baby and the