OBJECTIVES: Our purpose was to compare maternal and perinatal outcomes of mature women with those in younger women with pregnancies complicated by mild hypertension remote from term.

STUDY DESIGN: A matched cohort design was used. A total of 379 mature pregnant women (≥35 years old) with mild hypertension remote from term were matched for race, gestational age, and proteinuria status at enrollment with 379 adult controls aged 20 to 30 years also with mild hypertension remote from term. All were enrolled in an outpatient management program that included automated blood pressure measurements and daily assessment of weight, proteinuria, and fetal movement.

RESULTS: The mean gestational age at enrollment was 32.7 ± 3.0 weeks for both groups (range 24 to 36 weeks). By matching 20.6% of patients in each group had ≥1+ proteinuria on urinary dipstick at enrollment, and 77.3% of patients in each group were white. Chronic hypertension was more common in the mature group (22.4% vs 14.5%, p = 0.007). The mean gestational age at delivery (37.2 ± 2.3 vs 37.2 ± 2.2 weeks), the mean pregnancy prolongation (28.1 ± 21.0 vs 28.4 ± 22.0 days), and the mean birth weights (2864 ± 770 vs 2906 ± 788 gm) were similar between the mature and younger groups (all p > 0.05). There were no differences regarding abruptio placentae (2 vs 3 cases) or thrombocytopenia or HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelets) syndrome (7 vs 9 cases), and there were no cases of eclampsia. There were five stillbirths in the mature group and none in the younger group (p = 0.063).

CONCLUSION: Outpatient management of mild hypertension remote from term in the mature pregnant woman was associated with similar maternal outcomes but with a nonstatistically higher stillbirth rate compared with the younger pregnant woman. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 1997;176:1236-43.)