New mums benefit from DIY blood pressure tests

Worldwide, one in 10 pregnant mums  experience a dangerous increase in blood pressure.

- DR MIRIAM STOPPARD

And about a third of them will develop the condition over the next 10 years, with a long-term risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure.

How can we offset this future risk? Well, Oxford researchers may have an answer. Mums could self-monitor their blood pressure after giving birth and cut the risk of future heart disease and strokes.

In the largest trial of its kind, the Oxford team has found taking daily blood pressure readings at home and personalising medication in the weeks after giving birth improves blood pressure control for the first year after a hypertensive pregnancy.