Potential Benefits of Acupuncture for Hypertensive Disorders in Pregnancy: A Case Series

Abstract

Background: Hypertensive disorders (HD) affect up to 10% of pregnancies worldwide. Acupuncture has been used for centuries to treat a variety of symptoms associated with pregnancy and is also known to reduce blood pressure (BP) in chronic hypertension (CH). However, the use of acupuncture in addition to usual care for hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP) is not widely represented in the scientific literature.  

Objectives: This case series presents three pregnancies with developing symptoms of hypertension treated with acupuncture according to their Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine (AEAM) patterns in addition to usual care. Case study participants had a history of first pregnancies complicated by HD. 

Methods: Inclusion criteria for the case series included two or more risk factors for preeclampsia (PE), a history of HD in a previous pregnancy, HD in the current pregnancy that began at the same gestational week or earlier than in the first pregnancy, and no acupuncture intervention in the first pregnancy. 

Results: Three patients diagnosed with HD with complications in their first pregnancies successfully managed their blood pressure in the second. The patient in Case 1 had a history of PE, a family history of PE, and developed HD at week 28, 4 weeks earlier than the first pregnancy. The patient in Case 2 had CH with superimposed gestational hypertension (GH) and advanced maternal age (AMA). She developed GH at week 10, 10 weeks earlier than her first pregnancy, during which she had been hospitalized twice and had a preterm delivery. The patient in Case 3 had a history of PE, gestational diabetes (GD), and AMA; she developed hypertension at week 34 in both pregnancies and was rehospitalized postpartum with PE in the first pregnancy. In all second pregnancies described in this case series, the patients’ blood pressures (BP) remained stable or decreased temporarily, babies were delivered at term without complications, and stress and associated symptoms were reduced. 

Conclusions: Acupuncture appears to be effective in reducing symptom burden, managing blood pressure short term, and may prevent progression and complications in HDP.

Keywords: acupuncture, preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, pregnancy-induced hypertension