Women with severe pre-eclampsia during pregnancy may be at increased risk of developing lingering hypertension that may go undetected, as well as heart diseases, warns a new study. Pre-eclampsia occurs when a woman develops hypertension and elevated protein in the urine during pregnancy.

Women with severe pre-eclampsia can be seven times more susceptible to developing future cardiovascular disease compared to women with a normal blood pressure during pregnancy, said one of the study authors Laura Benschop, a researcher at Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.