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Since t he 1930's t he r e ha ve be e n eeny r e po r t s o f transient
postpartum hypertension which appe a r ed mo s t l y i n previously
ocree e e n s t ve b l ack wOllen [ 17 3- 177) . Stout i n 1934, observed
that 1 0 2 (17 . 2\) of 592 patients, with no nn a l uncompl i cate d
pregnancy and labour were hy pe r tens ive a t six weeks post­
pa r tum when t he y reported to the po stnata l clini c [173 ] . He
a lso o bs erved that the maj o r i t y of cases, 68. 3 \ we re bla c k and
that three -quart ers were mUltiparo u s wo men . In 6 7 pa t ient s
b lood pres sure s retur ne d to normal within 2 to 6 months
post par t um, while i n six c ases i t p e r s i s t e d beyond one year of
tollow- up. Re cu rren c e of postpa rtum hyperte ns i on occu r r ed in
7 of 27 pa t i ents who had a SUbseq u en t no nna l p regna ncy [ 17 3 ] .
Since thi s fi rst stud y , severa l other s tudie s i n Nort h
America have also reported postpartulll hype r t e ns i o n in mos t
cases, t ransient an d recurrent, and a f fe c ting predominantly
black sub j ects [ 114 -177J . I n 1951 Kalteider e t aI , noted, t h at
i n mos t i ns t a nce s t he hypertensive changes began i n t he ear l y
pue r pe rium {177] . In 50\ of t he 165 (16 4 black and o ne white)
postpa r t u mhypertensive ....ome n they s t Udied, t he blood pressure
e levati o n dev e l oped betwE!enthE! third and f ifth pos t p a r tum d a y
l 177 J . Thes e ea r ly findings have been co ntirmed in rec ent
s tud i e s by Wal t ers e t a1. 1986/87 who a lso observed that in
both previously normotensive and hypertensive pregnant
s ubjec t s , there wa s a tendency for blood pres s ure t o rise
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s ignificantly , especially betwe en the J rd an d 6t h postpartu m