By Te-Erika, Dec 12, 2023
Dr. Kecia Gaither, the Director of Perinatal Services/Maternal Fetal Medicine at NYC Health says this common bias in healthcare is an underlying cause of the vast number of hypertension cases found in Black women during pregnancy. Hypertension occurs when the blood flowing through the delicate arrangement of arteries is unnecessarily forceful, which causes the heart to have to work harder to pump blood through the body. Referred to as the ‘silent killer’ there are usually no symptoms until the damage has been done. According to Dr. Kecia Gaither, hypertension causes damage to multiple organ systems and is even more problematic in pregnancy as poor perinatal outcomes can occur with uncontrolled hypertension– inclusive of preeclampsia, placental abruption , growth restriction , and still birth.
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