Effect of intervention weight and blood pressure
There were no statistical differences in weight, BMI at follow up visit
or weight change from enrollment by study arm (Table 3). Overall,
participants retained a mean of 9.5 ± 18.5 pounds above their
pre-pregnancy weight. Thirty-eight (29%) participants were back to
their pre-pregnancy weight by study completion. HBPM plus HH4NM
intervention led to a greater but not statistically significant decrease
in systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure (MAP) between the two
study visits (Table 3) when compared to HBPM alone and control [mean
change in MAP (95%CI) -3.7(-6.5, -0.9), -0.4(-6.6, 1.0), -1.0(-4.1,
2.2) mmHg], respectively. Differences in SBP and DBP were similar.
Overall, 75 (58%) participants met criteria for stage 1 hypertension or
greater and 28 (22%) met criteria for stage 2 hypertension with 13
(10%) participants on anti-hypertensive medication at one-year
postpartum with no difference by study arm. Because of the small sample
size, the arms appeared to be less balanced by race and type of HDP.
Post-hoc, we examined whether these factors may have influenced our
findings. Adjustment for type of hypertensive disorder and race did not
change our estimates.