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Literature Review

High blood pressure among pregnant women is one of the major issues facing the nursing industry. Expectant mothers are delicate and they face various challenges in the course of their pregnancy. As a result, significant efforts have been directed towards addressing this problem, particularly high blood pressure over the recent years. High blood pressure arises from conditions such as obesity, inadequate physical activity, overweight, and use of assistive reproductive technology which are common among pregnant women. Pregnant women with high blood pressure face the risk of complications such as preeclampsia, seizures, hemolytic and low platelet count. Various interventions can be used to address high blood pressure including medication. Therefore, this paper seeks to provide a literature review regarding the effectiveness of using physical exercise over labetalol and methyldopa medications in reducing high blood pressure incidences in pregnant women over a one-year period.

Hypertension in Pregnancy

This article written by Marshall D. Lindheimer and Sandra J. Taler provides a summary of the clinical scale of hypertension by focusing on preeclampsia, (Lindheimer et al, 2008). According to the authors, hypertension, which is a subset of preeclampsia, complicates 5-7 percent of all pregnancies. The article discuses a variety of topics regarding high blood pressure including the different forms of hypertension, causes of the different forms of hypertension, and the strategies for preventing and managing this challenge. It also discusses some of the recent research breakthroughs relating to etiology for instance the gene transfer technique which can address hypertension and heart dysfunction. However, this paper focuses on the causes of high blood pressure such as overweight and stress, as discussed in the article. Reviewing these causes will help to manage high blood pressure through both physical exercise and medications. It contributes to the research question by understanding the causes of hypertension and thereby determining the most effective intervention method to apply.

Association of Pregnancy Complications and Characteristics With Future Risk of Elevated Blood Pressure.

This article provides an effective intervention program for high blood pressure in pregnant women. There are various intervention measures for addressing hypertension in pregnant women. These interventions discuss the management of high blood pressure before, during, and after pregnancy, (Parikh et al, 2017). For instance, pre-pregnancy counseling is necessary to evaluate the hypertensive control and ensure it is optimal. Antenatal care involves the general maternal care where the blood pressure assessment and screening of all pregnant women is done to check preeclampsia. However, the main focus for the research question is placed on the two interventions namely physical exercise and use of labetalol and methyldopa medications. According to the article, these are the common effective intervention methods for reducing high blood pressure in pregnant women.

Exercise Training and Weight Gain in Obese Pregnant Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial (ETIP Trial)

This is a research done to determine the effectiveness of exercise training in controlling high blood pressure in pregnant women. The findings in this research article are significant for understanding and explaining the role of physical exercise in managing hypertension regarding the research question. The research aimed to examine the effects of physical exercise in pregnancy on thirty outcomes including blood pressure. Although the research mainly focused on the effects of exercise training on gestational weight gain (GWS) it managed to provide a convincing explanation and description regarding the effectiveness of physical exercise in reducing high blood pressure, (Garnæs et al, 2016).  Also, the study emphasizes on obese women which might not always be the case regarding high blood pressure in pregnancy. High blood pressure can be caused by other factors other than obesity as stated above in the causes for high blood pressure, for instance too much stress.

Handbook of obstetric medicine

It is a book written by C Nelson that discusses the various drugs used for hypertension medication in pregnancy. According to the book, labetalol and methyldopa include some of the drugs that can be used to reduce high blood pressure in pregnant women, (Nelson-Piercy et al, 2015). It is a handbook that provides the dosage for these drugs as well as showing their effectiveness in addressing the problem. However, given it is a personal handbook, the views and opinions in the books might be personal opinions. Also, the book does not state whether a particular medication is appropriate to a particular individual. As much as it provides how these medications work to reduce high blood pressure, it does not provide the specifications and how effective each drug work on specific individuals.

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: overview and current recommendations

This article discusses the current overview of the high blood pressure in pregnancy. It provides comparisons and the significant steps compared to a few decades ago regarding medication and recommendations. Over the recent years, there has been significant improvement in the reduction of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality due to disorders resulting from high blood pressure, (Folk et al, 2018). However, despite these advances in intervention measures, current research has yet to identify a reliable diagnostic marker for preeclampsia.

In conclusion, hypertension is a serious problem facing a lot of pregnant women that need to be addressed with the appropriate interventions. Some of the causes of high blood pressure in pregnant women include overweight and stress. There are various interventions that can be used to address hypertension in pregnancy such physical exercise and medication. However, research done from the reviewed literature above shows that physical exercise is more effective than labetalol and methyldopa medication. This is because physical exercise cuts across the board unlike labetalol and methyldopa medication which work effectively depending on individuals. It should be noted that there is no current reliable diagnosis for preeclampsia which is the main cause of high blood pressure in pregnant women.