Younger women need to know about increased risks for hypertension associated with pregnancy, obesity and contraceptive pills. Pregnant women have estrogen and progesterone levels 50 to 100 times higher than normal and, indeed, blood pressure decreases during pregnancy in most women, as would be expected. However, high blood pressure complicates as many as one in 10 pregnancies and can progress to preeclampsia, a dangerous condition in which convulsions can threaten the lives of both mother and baby. Clearly, other variables besides estrogen are at work.
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