High blood pressure in pregnancy after 20 weeks is called as Pre-eclampsia. High bllod pressure in pregnant women can be dangerous for women and fetus as well.

Definition of Pre-eclampsia

When high blood pressure starts after 20 weeks of pregnancy, it is called as pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is new high blood pressure after 20 weeks of pregnancy along with other problems, such as protein in your urine. Pre-eclampsia usually goes away after you give birth. In rare cases, blood pressure can stay high for up to 6 weeks after the birth.Pre-eclampsia can be deadly for the mother and baby. It can keep the baby from getting enough blood and oxygen. It also can harm the mother’s liver, kidneys, and brain. Women with very bad pre-eclampsia can have dangerous seizures. This is called eclampsia.Often, preeclampsia causes only modest increases in blood pressure. Left untreated, however, preeclampsia can lead to serious — even fatal — complications for both mother and baby.

Since it reduces the flow of blood to the placenta, pre-eclampsia can be quite dangerous for your unborn baby. It can restrict your baby's growth because not enough oxygen or nutrients get through. If you have any reason to suspect that you might have pre-eclampsia, contact your doctor or midwife immediately.

If you develop preeclampsia in your first pregnancy, will you likely get it again in subsequent pregnancies? Not necessarily (the risk is 25 percent) unless there are factors that put you at risk in the first place. For example, an older mom or someone taking blood pressure medications would still be at risk.

Other high blood pressure disorders during pregnancy

Preeclampsia is classified as one of four high blood pressure disorders that can occur during pregnancy. The other three are:

Gestational hypertension. 
Women with gestational hypertension have high blood pressure, but no excess protein in their urine. Some women with gestational hypertension eventually develop preeclampsia.

Chronic hypertension. 
Chronic hypertension is high blood pressure that appears before 20 weeks of pregnancy or lasts more than 12 weeks after delivery. Often, chronic hypertension was present — but not detected — before pregnancy.

Preeclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension.
This term describes women who have chronic high blood pressure before pregnancy and then develop worsening high blood pressure and protein in the urine during pregnancy.

Although the proportion of pregnancies with gestational hypertension and eclampsia has remained about the same in the U.S. over the past decade, the rate of preeclampsia has increased by nearly one-third. This increase is due in part to a rise in the numbers of older mothers and of multiple births, where preeclampsia occurs more frequently. Globally, preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a leading cause of maternal and infant illness and death. By conservative estimates, these disorders are responsible for 76,000 maternal and 500,000 infant deaths each year.

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