Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy - the Neonatal Burden of Disease

Around one in ten women have high blood pressure in pregnancy. This is potentially serious, with risks to the woman and her baby. Whilst maternal deaths from high blood pressure in pregnancy are now rare in the UK, blood pressure problems in pregnancy still cause many stillbirths and early births. Studies have shown that women of Black and Asian backgrounds are more likely to have worse pregnancy outcomes when blood pressure problems in pregnancy develop. This study aims to: i) describe the burden of disease of high blood pressure in pregnancy amongst babies admitted to neonatal units on a national scale. ii) investigate outcomes for babies born to women with high blood pressure in pregnancy admitted to UK neonatal units across maternal ethnic groups. To complete this study, we will use the National Neonatal Research Database, which holds population-level data for all babies admitted to neonatal units (where unwell babies receive care) in the UK. We will look at records of babies admitted to neonatal units in England and Wales between 2012 and 2020. The records will include information on over half a million babies and their mothers. We will assess how many babies admitted to neonatal units were born to women who had high blood pressure in pregnancy. We will report the outcomes of these babies, and how they compare to babies born to women without high blood pressure in pregnancy. We will analyse whether outcomes for babies born to women with high blood pressure in pregnancy varies according to maternal ethnicity, and investigate what may be driving differences we find.