Some women experience health problems during pregnancy. These complications can involve the mother’s health, the fetus’s health, or both. Even women who were healthy before getting pregnant can experience complications. These complications may make the pregnancy a high-risk pregnancy.
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Getting early and regular prenatal care can help decrease the risk for problems by enabling health care providers to diagnose, treat, or manage conditions before they become serious. Prenatal care can also help identify mental health concerns related to pregnancy, such as anxiety and depression.
Some common complications of pregnancy include, but are not limited to, the following.
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (2020). Preeclampsia and high blood pressure during pregnancy. FAQ034. Retrieved December 30, 2020,Preeclampsia-and-High-Blood-Pressure-During-Pregnancy
- Leeman, L., & Fontaine, P. (2008). Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. American Family Physician, 78, 93–100. PMID: 18649616
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Births: Final data for 2014. Supplemental table I-6. National Vital Statistics Report, 64(12). Retrieved May 31, 2016, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_12_tables.pdf (PDF 867 KB)
- ACOG. (2013). Gestational diabetes. FAQ177. Retrieved May 31, 2016, from http://www.acog.org/Patients/FAQs/Gestational-Diabetes
- Hernandez-Diaz, S., Toh, S., & Cnattinguis, S. (2009). Risk of pre-eclampsia in first and subsequent pregnancies: prospective cohort study. British Medical Journal, 338, b2255. Retrieved July 31, 2012, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3269902/?tool=pubmed
- Office on Women’s Health. (2010). Pregnancy: pregnancy complications. Retrieved May 31, 2016, from https://www.womenshealth.gov/pregnancy/youre-pregnant-now-what/pregnancy-complications
