Hypertension in pregnancy.

The most dramatic manifestation of hypertension in pregnancy is the development of eclampsia, the premonitory signs and clinical manifestations of which have been documented in the medical literature since the time of Hippocrates [1]. However, eclampsia represents a very small and extreme section of hypertension in pregnancy and by far the commonest situation is the development of mild hypertension, with or without the presence of proteinuria, in the third trimester of pregnancy. In its severe forms, hypertension in pregnancy is associated with a significant risk to maternal and foetal life. In its mildest form, arising in late pregnancy for the first time, hypertension appears to be associated with no significant maternal hazard and improved foetal growth and survival [2, 3].