Comprehensive Postpartum Management for Women With Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy

Comprehensive Postpartum Management for Women With Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy: A Randomized Controlled

Investigators propose a comprehensive management program for postpartum patients with HDP who are at risk for severe maternal morbidity and mortality. Our program will emphasize three key components: 1) self-monitoring of blood pressures with app-based reporting connected to our electronic health record, 2) blood pressure management directed by a program navigator with guideline and physician support and 3) facilitated transitions of care to primary care clinicians for hypertension management. Investigators will randomize 300 patents with HDP on postpartum day one with follow up through 3 months postpartum. Primary outcome will be blood pressure reporting at 7-10 postpartum. Secondary outcomes include blood pressure control at 7-10 days postpartum, identification and treatment of severe blood pressures, severe maternal morbidity, hospital readmission, triage visits for hypertension, postpartum and primary care visit attendance, and multiple patient-reported outcome measures. All outcomes will be stratified by race (Black and non-Black) to evaluate disparities and by tight versus usual blood pressure control to evaluate the impact of strict postpartum blood pressure control on outcomes. Investigators hypothesize that a comprehensive postpartum HDP management program will improve hypertension control for all patients and reduce disparities that affect Black patients, and that stricter blood pressure control will be associated with fewer adverse outcomes.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced; Postpartum Preeclampsia; Hypertension; Maternal
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Blood Pressure Control Targets; Other: Hypertension Management

Detailed Description

Hypertension complicates 10% of pregnancies in the U.S., directly accounting for 7% of pregnancy-related deaths and 38% of severe maternal morbidity. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) include chronic hypertension, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, hemolysis-elevated-liver enzymes-low platelets (HELLP), and eclampsia, and occur 2.5 times more frequently among Black compared to non-Black patients. The weeks after delivery are crucial for maternal health, severe maternal morbidity, and hypertension-associated morbidity. Half of all pregnancy-related deaths occur in this time and Black patients are impacted disproportionally by these morbidities including pulmonary edema, stroke, and renal failure.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recently redefined postpartum care to encompass 12 months after birth and stressed the importance of connecting postpartum patients to primary care clinicians to manage chronic conditions. This handoff is critical as 50% of patients with HDP develop chronic hypertension, and patients affected by HDP have twice the risk of later cardiovascular-related death. Recently, Tennessee expanded Medicaid coverage to 12 months postpartum. Given that most obstetric clinicians do not provide comprehensive primary care, investigators urgently need models for bridging gaps in care after pregnancy. While interventions such as telemedicine and peer navigation demonstrate promise to improve patient engagement in care and reduce postpartum racial disparities,15-18 no randomized trials address system-level initiatives to improve postpartum care for patients with HDP.

Another area of active investigation relates to establishing appropriate blood pressure targets for patients in and around the time of pregnancy. Recent findings from the Chronic Hypertension and Pregnancy Trial suggest that stricter control of antepartum blood pressure is beneficial in reducing the incidence of a composite adverse perinatal outcome which included preeclampsia with severe features, medically indicated preterm birth at less than 35 weeks of gestation, placental abruption, and fetal or neonatal death. This trial has been practice-changing, lowering the historic antepartum blood pressure target from 160/110mmHg (millimeter of mercury) to less than 140/90mmHg. However, this trial did not contemplate the management of maternal blood pressure in the postpartum period. ACOG presently endorses a postpartum goal of less than 150/100mmHg which, notably, is higher than the newly established antepartum goal. Furthermore, the blood pressure target set for non-pregnant adults by the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association is even lower, at less than 120/80mmHg to minimize the cardiovascular disease risk associated with chronic hypertension.

Investigators propose a comprehensive management program for postpartum patients with HDP who are at risk for severe maternal morbidity and mortality. Our program will emphasize three key components: 1) self-monitoring of blood pressures with app-based reporting connected to our electronic health record, 2) blood pressure management directed by a program navigator with guideline and physician support and 3) facilitated transitions of care to primary care clinicians for hypertension management. Investigators will randomize 300 patents with HDP on postpartum day one with follow up through 3 months postpartum. Primary outcome will be blood pressure reporting at 7-10 postpartum. Secondary outcomes include blood pressure control at 7-10 days postpartum, identification and treatment of severe blood pressures, severe maternal morbidity, hospital readmission, triage visits for hypertension, postpartum and primary care visit attendance, and multiple patient-reported outcome measures. All outcomes will be stratified by race (Black and non-Black) to evaluate disparities and by tight versus usual blood pressure control to evaluate the impact of strict postpartum blood pressure control on outcomes. Investigators hypothesize that a comprehensive postpartum HDP management program will improve hypertension control for all patients and reduce disparities that affect Black patients, and that stricter blood pressure control will be associated with fewer adverse outcomes.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 343
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Tennessee
    • Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37215
      • Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria

1. Age >18 years
2. Diagnosed with a Hypertensive Disorder of Pregnancy (HDP), which includes chronic hypertension, preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, HELLP Syndrome (Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes, Low Platelets), or eclampsia (O10, O11, O13, O14, O15, O16) Exclusion Criteria

1. Not able or willing to receive electronic surveys 2. Deemed inappropriate for study enrollment by the bedside nurse 3. Non-English speaking 4. Contraindication to ACOG-recommended hypertension control (i.e. chronic kidney disease, stroke)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: A) Standard BP Control, Clinician Monitoring; Target blood pressure will be less than 150/100. Participants will be instructed to check their blood pressures twice a day for two weeks and daily for weeks 3-6 after delivery and report abnormal blood pressures or symptoms to their obstetric clinicians. Additional postpartum visits beyond the blood pressure check will be directed by their obstetric clinician.	Other: Blood Pressure Control Targets; This intervention specifies the goal blood pressure as less than 150/100 versus less than 140/90; Other: Hypertension Management; This intervention specifies whether the participant has hypertension management through their obstetric clinician or through a single nurse navigator who provides feedback and modifies hypertension treatment based on blood pressure values submitted by the participant.
Active Comparator: B) Tight BP Control, Clinician Monitoring; Target blood pressure will be less than 140/90. Participants will be instructed to check their blood pressures twice a day for two weeks and daily for weeks 3-6 after delivery and report abnormal blood pressures or symptoms to their obstetric clinicians. Additional postpartum visits beyond the blood pressure check will be directed by their obstetric clinician.	Other: Blood Pressure Control Targets; This intervention specifies the goal blood pressure as less than 150/100 versus less than 140/90; Other: Hypertension Management; This intervention specifies whether the participant has hypertension management through their obstetric clinician or through a single nurse navigator who provides feedback and modifies hypertension treatment based on blood pressure values submitted by the participant.
Active Comparator: C) Standard BP Control, Care Navigation; Target blood pressure will be less than 150/100. Participants will check blood pressures twice daily for 14 days and daily for weeks 3-6. A nurse navigator will review their blood pressures M-F for Weeks 1-2 and weekly for weeks 3-6 and will provide feedback on blood pressure values and recommend initiating or escalating medications as needed. The nurse navigator will communicate progress to the participant's clinicians and will remind the participant of their appointments. The nurse navigator will facilitate a visit around 3 months with a primary care clinician or a cardiologist for hypertension follow up.	Other: Blood Pressure Control Targets; This intervention specifies the goal blood pressure as less than 150/100 versus less than 140/90; Other: Hypertension Management; This intervention specifies whether the participant has hypertension management through their obstetric clinician or through a single nurse navigator who provides feedback and modifies hypertension treatment based on blood pressure values submitted by the participant.
Active Comparator: D) Tight BP Control, Care Navigation; Target blood pressure will be less than 140/90. Participants will check blood pressures twice daily for 14 days and daily for weeks 3-6. A nurse navigator will review their blood pressures M-F for Weeks 1-2 and weekly for weeks 3-6 and will provide feedback on blood pressure values and recommend initiating or escalating medications as needed. The nurse navigator will communicate progress to the participant's clinicians and will remind the participant of their appointments. The nurse navigator will facilitate a visit around 3 months with a primary care clinician or a cardiologist for hypertension follow up.	Other: Blood Pressure Control Targets; This intervention specifies the goal blood pressure as less than 150/100 versus less than 140/90; Other: Hypertension Management; This intervention specifies whether the participant has hypertension management through their obstetric clinician or through a single nurse navigator who provides feedback and modifies hypertension treatment based on blood pressure values submitted by the participant.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Proportion of Participants With Recorded Blood Pressure Values in Office	Proportion of participants with blood pressure values recorded in the office	7-10 days post delivery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Proportion of Participants With Recorded Blood Pressure Values, Any Reporting	Proportion of participants with blood pressure values recorded through any means	7-10 days post delivery
Systolic Blood Pressure, 7-10 Days	Mean difference in systolic blood pressure from baseline, 7-10 days	7-10 days post delivery
Diastolic Blood Pressure	Mean difference in diastolic blood pressure from baseline, 7-10 days	7-10 days post delivery
Initiated New Medications	Initiated new antihypertensive medications by 7-10 days postpartum	7-10 days
Sustained Severe Hypertension, 7-10 Days	Proportion of participants with two blood pressures >=160/100 at least 15 minutes apart	7-10 days postpartum
Unplanned Visits	Proportion of patients with obstetric triage visits, emergency department visits, or hospital readmission	7-10 days
Postpartum Visit Attendance	Proportion of patients with postpartum visit attendance	3-6 weeks post delivery
Primary Care Visit Attendance	Proportion of patients with primary care visit attendance	3 months post delivery
Systolic Blood Pressure, 4-6 Weeks	Mean systolic blood pressure, 4-6 weeks	4-6 weeks post delivery
Diastolic Blood Pressure, 4-6 Weeks	Mean diastolic blood pressure, 4-6 weeks	4-6 weeks post delivery

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Felt That They Were Treated With Respect	Proportion of participants who responded "good", "very good", or "excellent" to the prompt "My health care team treated me with respect"	2 weeks post delivery
Anxiety	Measure of the mean T-score. The T-score rescales the raw score into a standardized T-score with a range of 0-100 where the population mean is 50 and the standard deviation (SD) of 10. In this range 0 is no anxiety and 100 is high anxiety.	2 weeks post delivery
Instrumental Support	Measure of the mean T-score. The T-score rescales the raw score into a standardized T-score with a range of 0-100 where the population mean is 50 and the standard deviation (SD) of 10. In this range 0 is no support and 100 is high support.	2 weeks post delivery
Mothers on Respect Index Score	The Mothers on Respect (MOR) index was developed to assess the nature of patient-provider interactions and their impact on a person's sense of respect during maternity care. The MOR index is a patient-informed quality and safety indicator that can be applied across jurisdictions to assess the nature of provider-patient relationships, and access to person-centered care. Responses are summed to provide a total score with a range of 18-84 with higher scores indicating more respectful care. A score of 50-66 indicates moderate respect and 67-84 indicates high respect.	6 weeks post delivery

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
• Collaborators: Sarah Osmundson, MD, MS; Alex Phelps, MD; Julia Phillippi, PhD, CNM; Soha Patel, MD, MSPH; Etoi Garrison, MD, PhD; Kathryn Lindley, MD
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sarah Osmundson, MD, Associate Professor Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 8, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 1, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): August 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 10, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 4, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): May 8, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 12, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 10, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Hypertension; Postpartum hypertension
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Urogenital Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications; Pregnancy Complications; Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced; Hypertension
• Other Study ID Numbers: R21NR020857-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No