title: Cardiovascular variability before and after delivery: recovery from arterial stiffness in women with preeclampsia 4 days post partum.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We studied the short-term response of autonomic control to delivery in normal pregnancies and pregnancies with preeclampsia (PE).
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen healthy pregnant women and 13 women with PE were monitored within four days before and four days after delivery and compared to values of 14 non-pregnant women as controls using high-resolution electrocardiogram and noninvasive continuous blood pressure monitoring.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In PE, blood pressure remained elevated four days postpartum, but markers for arterial stiffness normalized. In contrast, none of heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity parameters, altered due to either pregnancy or disease, were normalized 96 h after delivery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Four days after delivery, the maternal cardiovascular system is still strongly affected by pregnancy independent of the health status.
authors: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University College Cork , Cork , Ireland .
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Walther
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Voss
authors: Mathias
authors: M
authors: Baumert
authors: Sandra
authors: S
authors: Truebner
authors: Holger
authors: H
authors: Till
authors: Holger
authors: H
authors: Stepan
authors: Niels
authors: N
authors: Wessel
authors: Renaldo
authors: R
authors: Faber
mesh_terms: D017704:Baroreflex; D001794:Blood Pressure; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D021041:Placental Circulation; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011644:Puerperal Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult