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Modifiable Risk Factors For Hypertensive Disorders Of Pregnancy Among Latina Women, Shannon Renee Turzanski Fortner

Open Access Dissertations

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy affect approximately 8% of pregnancies, and can lead to serious complications for both mother and child. While Latinas are at two-fold increased risk of preeclampsia relative to non-Latina white women, little research on hypertension in pregnancy has been conducted in this population. Furthermore, there are few modifiable risk factors for hypertensive pregnancy. Therefore, we examined associations between psychosocial stress, physical activity, and pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy using data from the Latina GDM Study, a prospective cohort study of 1,231 women. The first study evaluated the association between perceived stress …