Pregnancy
Pregnancy is like a "stress test" for the heart. High blood pressure during pregnancy needs close care.
Women's heart health
Blood pressure runs through every stage of a woman's life.
From pregnancy to menopause and beyond, high blood pressure is the thread that ties a woman's heart health together. Knowing your numbers, and their cause, helps you and your doctor stay ahead of it.
The news
Four leading medical groups, one message.
On October 26, 2026, the American Heart Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine came together for the first time to call for heart care across every stage of a woman's life. High blood pressure is a common thread, and pregnancy can reveal heart risk early.
Read the announcementAt every stage
What blood pressure means through life.
After birth
The months after birth matter. If you had high blood pressure in pregnancy, keep getting it checked.
Midlife and menopause
Menopause is a turning point. Blood pressure often rises, so keep checking.
Later years
Most heart attacks and strokes happen later in life. Controlling blood pressure helps protect you.
Why it matters
The numbers every woman should know.
400,000+
US women die of heart disease and stroke each year, more than breast cancer, lung cancer and COPD combined.
1 in 7
US births involve high blood pressure, and the rate is rising.
About 2x
lifetime risk of heart disease and stroke after preeclampsia.
About 6 in 10
women get a blood-pressure check within six months after a high-blood-pressure pregnancy.
If you had high blood pressure in pregnancy, ask your doctor about follow-up checks.
Sources: AHA, ACOG, AAP and SMFM, Circulation, Oct 2026; CDC MMWR 2022; NCHS; Bellamy et al., BMJ 2007.
How NICaS helps
See the cause, so treatment can fit you.
NICaS is a simple, FDA-cleared test that shows your doctor why your blood pressure is high: tight blood vessels, a heart working too hard, or both. Your doctor uses that to choose the treatment that fits you. Two small sensors, a few minutes, no needles.
What the test is like
Questions women ask
Your questions, answered.
Talk with your doctor about your blood pressure.
During pregnancyAfter birthAt menopause
This page is general information, not medical advice. Talk with your doctor about your blood pressure.