| Description |
The purpose of this investigation was to test the value of encouraging increased rest and reduced physical activity in preventing pregnancy-induced hypertension and selected complications of the disease. The supine pressor test was used to identify women at risk of developing pregnancy-induced hypertension. Women with positive tests were randomly assigned either to a control or treatment group. Treatment consisted of outpatient management using reduced activity and increased rest al long as the subjects remained normotensive. Following delivery and discharge from the hospital, antepartum and hospital records of the subjects were evaluated for the presence of pregnancy-induced hypertension, and other selected complications of the disease. This investigation was unable to demonstrate any effect of encouraging increased rest and reduced physical activity on the development of pregnancy-induced hypertension and its complications. However, this research suffered from inadequate sample size, lack of control over the independent variables, and high incidence of false positive supine pressor tests. The supine pressor test was found to be capable of discriminating between women who are more, and less likely to develop pregnancy-induced hypertension. Its predictive ability can be enhanced by combining the test with the mean arterial pressure. There is evidence that by correcting for hydrostatic pressure changes during performance of the test, the accuracy of the supine pressor test could be improved. Women with a history or potential or renal disease and women who develop transient hypertension to not appear to contribute disproportionately to the incidence of false positive or negative tests. The supine pressor test does not appear to be useful screening test for intrauterine growth retardation. Intrauterine growth retardation was found to be associated not only with diastolic hypertension with proteinuria, but also with diastolic hypertension alone. |
