Key clinical point: Women with elevated blood pressure or hypertension 1 in early pregnancy have higher risk of preeclampsia than women with normal blood pressure, using new definitions of hypertension.

Major finding: While 5% of women with normal BP before 20 weeks developed preeclampsia, 7% of those with elevated blood pressure, 12% of those with stage 1 hypertension, and 30% of those with stage 2 hypertension developed preeclampsia.

Study details: A retrospective cohort study looking at more than 18,000 pregnancies from a single center using new definitions of hypertension.

Disclosures: The NIH, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the American Heart Association sponsored the study. The authors disclosed no conflicts of interest.