Her Way Forward · Good to know
It didn't end with the birth
If your blood pressure went up while you were pregnant, or you were told you had pre-eclampsia, you were probably given the impression it was a pregnancy problem. Something that arrived with the baby and left with the placenta. That is not quite what it was.
High blood pressure in pregnancy is also information about the rest of your life. Women who have had it carry a raised risk of heart disease, stroke and long-term high blood pressure, and the research on this is consistent.
After a hypertensive pregnancy
Raised risk is not the same as certainty. Most women in this group will not have a heart attack or a stroke. It means you belong to a group worth keeping an eye on, and it means nobody should be surprised by your blood pressure at fifty.
NICE guidance says every woman who had gestational hypertension should be offered a medical review six to eight weeks after the birth. Plenty of women get that appointment. Rather fewer are told what it was for, or that anything should happen afterwards.
The other time it changes
Blood pressure also tends to rise after menopause. Oestrogen has a protective effect on blood vessels and that protection reduces, which is part of why women’s risk of heart disease climbs in the years afterwards rather than before.
So there are two points in a woman’s life when this is worth paying attention to, and both of them are easy to miss. One is filed under pregnancy. The other gets filed under getting older.
But I feel completely fine.
Yes. That is the entire problem with blood pressure and it is why it gets called the silent one. There is usually nothing to feel. You do not get a warning, you get a reading.
Who should be checking more often
Some of us have more reason than others. High blood pressure is significantly more common in people from Black African, Black Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds than in white people, and among women the age-adjusted rate is highest in the Black ethnic group.
- You had high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia in any pregnancy
- Your family background is Black African, Black Caribbean or South Asian
- You are past menopause, or going through it
- A parent or sibling has high blood pressure
None of those means anything is wrong. Each is a reason to know your numbers rather than assume them.
Getting it checked
It takes about two minutes. You keep all your clothes on, you roll up one sleeve, and a cuff goes round your upper arm. Nobody asks you anything personal. It is one of the least intrusive things the health service does.
Three places you can get it done free
At Communi-TEA. We run simple health checks in a quiet corner, blood pressure among them, done unhurried and without fuss. You do not have to have one. It is there if you want it.
At most pharmacies. Many offer free blood pressure checks to adults over 40 without an appointment. You can walk in.
At your GP surgery. If any of the reasons above apply to you, say so.
I had pre-eclampsia when I was pregnant. I understand that raises my risk long term. Can I have my blood pressure checked, and should I be checked regularly?
One reading is not a diagnosis
A single high reading does not mean you have high blood pressure. It goes up when you are rushing, anxious, or have just climbed stairs. What matters is the pattern, so if a check comes back high, the next step is more readings rather than alarm.
In Wandsworth this is not a rare gap. Around 32,000 people are on their GP’s register for high blood pressure, and the borough estimates that the true number is closer to 57,000. That difference is roughly twenty-five thousand people walking around feeling completely fine.
Where this comes from
Published research and NHS guidance. Nothing here rests on one small study.
- Twice the risk of heart disease and stroke, four times more likely to develop hypertensionPublished reviews of cardiovascular outcomes in women after a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, including work in Current Heart Failure Reports and multiple cohort studies.
- Medical review six to eight weeks after birthNICE guideline NG133, Hypertension in pregnancy: diagnosis and management.
- Blood pressure and menopauseReviews of hypertension in women across the life cycle, describing reduced oestrogen protection and increased sympathetic activation after menopause.
- Higher rates in Black African, Black Caribbean and South Asian communitiesNational data summarised by NHS England, and UK primary care cohort studies of hypertension management by ethnicity.
- Roughly 32,000 diagnosed against about 57,000 estimated in WandsworthWandsworth Health & Care Plan 2025–27, NHS South West London Integrated Care Board. The higher figure is a statistical estimate rather than a count of individuals.