Fact: Pregnancy increases blood pressure in some women (preeclampsia)

Fact: Increased strokes with increased blood pressure

Fact: Preeclampsia increases as there is less vitamin D

Fact: Decreasing vitamin D in recent decades

Fact: Vitamin D is especially low after giving birth (or other large trauma)

   No surprise: Increasing number of strokes following pregnancy

WebMD Strokes During Pregnancy, Childbirth on the Rise

Researchers Say Rising Rate of High Blood Pressure Is a Factor in the Increase in Stroke

• 2000 per year 1994-95
• 3000 per year 2006-07
• 47% increase in stroke during pregnancy
• 83% increase after childbirth (when vitamin D levels are especially low)
• Having high blood pressure increased the risk of pregnancy-related stroke up to about six times

Yahoo Finance? News BLOOD PRESSURE

• In 1994-95, high blood pressure in:
  • 11.3 percent of the pregnant women prior to birth;
  • 23.4 percent of those at or near delivery; and
  • 27.8 percent of those within 12 weeks of delivery.
• In 2006-07, high blood pressure among stroke patients in:
  • 17 percent of those pregnant;
  • 28.5 percent of those at or near delivery; and
  • 40.9 percent of women in the postpartum period.

Preeclampsia

is a pregnancy condition in which high blood pressure and protein in the urine develop after the 20th week (late 2nd or 3rd trimester) of pregnancy.

Related expectations for the mothers (have not seen many of them yet)

• Increase in strokes for pregnant blacks
• Increase in migraines for pregnant women
• Even larger increase in pregnancy-related strokes when further from equator or in cloudy regions
• Even larger increase in pregnancy-related strokes if smoking, overweight, etc.
• Even larger increase in pregnancy-related strokes if breastfeeding (which uses more vitamin D)
• Seasonal increase in strokes (winter in most countries, summer in the Middle East due to air conditioning)

Related expectations for the children born in past 20-30 years

• Increase in allergies, asthma, Autism, . . . in children born during the past 20 years
• Increase in pre-term births
• Increase in child-hood Diabetes
• Increase in c-sections
• Increase in myopia

See also VitaminDWiki

• Overview Strokes and vitamin D
• Overview Moms babies and vitamin D
• Stroke patients show dearth of vitamin D – 2005
• All items in Stroke and vitamin D
• Meta-analysis found hypertension reduced with vitamin D – Dec 2010
• Hypertension and vitamin D many articles
• Vitamin D reduced blood pressure in random controlled trials – Nov 2010
• Hypothesis that lack of vitamin D increases blood pressure in blacks – July 2010
• Severe preeclampsia 4X higher when very vitamin D deficient e.g. 10 ng vs 40 ng blood levels
• Preeclampsia and small infants associated with 7 ng less vitamin D – Mar 2011
• How to reduce preeclampsia - May 2011
• Eclampsia 2X more frequency in Swedish winter – Jan 2011
• Why vitamin D reduces of premature birth - April 2011 Note: 2X death rate for premature birth
• Implications of vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy and lactation – May 2010 includes tables of risk factors and problems vs ng
• All items in Headaches and vitamin D
  • Pregnant women and other people low on vitamin D have increased tendency to get migraines
• Hypothesis – Black births are much riskier due to lack of vitamin D
• Hypothesis: Low vitamin D linked to Myopia

Web

• Google Search for pregnancy stroke 34,000,000 hits July 2011
• Science Daily July 2011
  • Pregnant women face a risk of stroke that is 2.4 times higher than the risk in nonpregnant women,