{"id":5723,"date":"2026-09-11T08:43:03","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/?p=5723"},"modified":"2026-09-11T08:43:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:43:03","slug":"cvja-2026-037","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/","title":{"rendered":"NT-proBNP in women with gestational hypertension, uncomplicated preeclampsia, normotensive pregnancies, and echocardiographic correlations"},"content":{"rendered":"    <div id=\"article\">                                                                                                                        \r\n        <div id=\"title-container\">                                                                                                    \r\n        <div id=\"authors-title\">                                                                                                            \r\n        <!--Aurthors under Title-->                                                                                                            \r\n            \r\nDolina Gencheva, Fedya Nikolov, Ekaterina Uchikova, Blagovesta Pencheva, Rosen Mihaylov\r\n<\/div>        \r\n<\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n            <div id=\"copyright\">\r\n        <strong>Copyright:<\/strong> Clinics Cardive Publishing (Pty) Ltd. publisher\r\n        of Cardiovascular Journal of Africa.<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"clear: both;\"><\/div>                                                                                                                                \r\n        <div id=\"article-abstract\">                                                                                                            \r\n            <div id=\"abstract-title\">                                                                                                        \r\n                    Abstract                                                                                                                \r\n                <\/div>                                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                \r\n            <div id=\"abstract-content\">                                                                                                        \r\n            <!--Content of Abstract Article-->                                                                                                \r\n            <!--<strong>\"Abstract titles\":<\/strong>-->                                                                                        \r\n            <!--<br\/> at the end of each section!!-->                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\n\r\n        <strong>Objective:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\nTo determine and compare serum NT-proBNP levels among women with gestational hypertension (GH), uncomplicated preeclampsia (PE), and normotensive pregnancies, and to assess their associations with maternal clinical characteristics and echocardiographic parameters.\r\n<br \/>    \r\n\r\n        <strong>Methods:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\nThis prospective, single-centre study analysed 35 women with GH, 36 with uncomplicated PE, and 50 healthy pregnant controls. All participants underwent clinical evaluation, comprehensive two-dimensional echocardiography, and biomarker testing.\r\n<br \/>            \r\n                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <strong>Results:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\nNT-proBNP concentrations were significantly lower in the GH group (42.3 \u00b1 52.0 pg\/mL) compared to both normotensive pregnancies (50.1 \u00b1 40.3 pg\/mL; p = 0.04) and uncomplicated PE cases (87.7 \u00b1 75.3 pg\/mL; p = 0.002). No significant difference was observed between uncomplicated PE and controls. ROC curve analysis demonstrated a moderate discriminatory ability of NT-proBNP for GH versus PE (AUC = 0.71); women with levels \u2264 6.25 pg\/mL were 7.9 times more likely to have GH than PE. In normotensive pregnancy, NT-proBNP correlated with parameters of cardiac chamber dilation. In PE, higher NT-proBNP levels were associated with more favourable left ventricular functional indices, whereas fewer correlations were observed in the GH cohort.\r\n<br \/>    \r\n\r\n        <strong>Conclusion:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\nNT-proBNP levels differ significantly among hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and may reflect distinct pathophysiological mechanisms and cardiovascular adaptation patterns.\r\n<br \/>    \r\n\r\n                                                                                                        \r\n\r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n            <\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <div id=\"keywords\">                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                            \r\n            <strong>Keywords:<\/strong>                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                            \r\n            <strong>gestational hypertension, pregnancy, NT-proBNP, preeclampsia, echocardiography, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy<\/strong>                                                                                                                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n    <div id=\"publish-info\">                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                \r\n    <strong>Submitted:<\/strong> January 16, 2026; <!--Month day, year; -->    \r\n    <strong>Accepted:<\/strong> June 8, 2026; <!--Month day, year; -->                                                                            \r\n    <strong>Published:<\/strong> September 11, 2026<!--Month day, year; -->                                                                                                                            <br \/>                                                            \r\n        <em>Cardiovasc J Afr 2025; <b>37<\/b>: 365-374<!--pg no. till pg no. \"eg. 4-7\"--><\/em>\r\n        <br \/><strong>Volume 37, Issue 3<\/strong> <br \/>                                                                            \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n                                                                                                                                        \r\n    <div id=\"DOI\">                                                                                                                    \r\n            DOI Citation Reference: dx.doi.org\/10.5830\/CVJA-2026-037<!--DOI number-->                                                                \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n                \r\n                <div id=\"author-affiliation\">                                                                                                \r\n\r\n\r\n<strong>Section of Cardiology, First Department of Internal Diseases, Medical University of Plovdiv; Clinic of Cardiology, UMHAT Sveti Georgi, Plovdiv, Bulgaria\r\n\r\n<\/strong>    <br \/>                                                                            \r\nDolina Gencheva<br \/>    \r\nFedya Nikolov\r\n<br \/><br \/>    \r\n\r\n<strong>Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Medical University of Plovdiv; Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UMHAT Sveti Georgi, Plovdiv, Bulgaria\r\n\r\n<\/strong>    <br \/>                                                                            \r\nEkaterina Uchikova\r\n\r\n<br \/><br \/>    \r\n\r\n<strong>RAMUS Independent Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, Sofia, Bulgaria\r\n\r\n<\/strong>    <br \/>                                                                            \r\nBlagovesta Pencheva<br \/>\r\nRosen Mihaylov\r\n<br \/><br \/>    \r\n\r\n<strong>National Sports Academy \u201cVasil Levski\u201d, Sofia, Bulgaria\r\n\r\n<\/strong>    <br \/>                                                                            \r\nRosen Mihaylov\r\n<br \/><br \/>     \r\n\r\n\r\n                [soshsc hide=\"logged\"]\r\n                \r\n                <strong>You need to be <a style=\"color: #c80c44;\" href=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/member-login\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">logged in to view and download<\/a> the full text PDF version. <a style=\"color: #c80c44;\" href=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/register\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Register for a free account?<\/a><\/strong> <br \/><br \/>[\/soshsc]\r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                <\/div>\r\n    \r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To determine and compare serum NT-proBNP levels among women with gestational hypertension (GH), uncomplicated preeclampsia (PE), and normotensive pregnancies, and to assess their associations with maternal clinical characteristics and echocardiographic parameters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cardiovascular-topics","category-volume-37-issue-3"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NT-proBNP in women with gestational hypertension, uncomplicated preeclampsia, normotensive pregnancies, and echocardiographic correlations - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To determine and compare serum NT-proBNP levels among women with gestational hypertension (GH), uncomplicated preeclampsia (PE), and normotensive pregnancies, and to assess their associations with maternal clinical characteristics and echocardiographic parameters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NT-proBNP in women with gestational hypertension, uncomplicated preeclampsia, normotensive pregnancies, and echocardiographic correlations - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"To determine and compare serum NT-proBNP levels among women with gestational hypertension (GH), uncomplicated preeclampsia (PE), and normotensive pregnancies, and to assess their associations with maternal clinical characteristics and echocardiographic parameters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cardiovascular Journal of Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-11T06:43:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jaco Moolman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jaco Moolman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/\",\"name\":\"NT-proBNP in women with gestational hypertension, uncomplicated preeclampsia, normotensive pregnancies, and echocardiographic correlations - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-11T06:43:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/6bf8a30a039e93fd8112db707affb920\"},\"description\":\"To determine and compare serum NT-proBNP levels among women with gestational hypertension (GH), uncomplicated preeclampsia (PE), and normotensive pregnancies, and to assess their associations with maternal clinical characteristics and echocardiographic parameters.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NT-proBNP in women with gestational hypertension, uncomplicated preeclampsia, normotensive pregnancies, and echocardiographic correlations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/\",\"name\":\"Cardiovascular Journal of Africa\",\"description\":\"The Cardiovascular Journal of Africa is a peer-reviewed medical journal publishing leading research in cardiovascular health across Africa since 1990\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/6bf8a30a039e93fd8112db707affb920\",\"name\":\"Jaco Moolman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/454c6719ed785bfd40e036ca3c3ac3347c56b4a99902df8beb62d882b1e6967f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/454c6719ed785bfd40e036ca3c3ac3347c56b4a99902df8beb62d882b1e6967f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jaco Moolman\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/author\/jacodesignconnection-co-za\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NT-proBNP in women with gestational hypertension, uncomplicated preeclampsia, normotensive pregnancies, and echocardiographic correlations - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa","description":"To determine and compare serum NT-proBNP levels among women with gestational hypertension (GH), uncomplicated preeclampsia (PE), and normotensive pregnancies, and to assess their associations with maternal clinical characteristics and echocardiographic parameters.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NT-proBNP in women with gestational hypertension, uncomplicated preeclampsia, normotensive pregnancies, and echocardiographic correlations - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa","og_description":"To determine and compare serum NT-proBNP levels among women with gestational hypertension (GH), uncomplicated preeclampsia (PE), and normotensive pregnancies, and to assess their associations with maternal clinical characteristics and echocardiographic parameters.","og_url":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/","og_site_name":"Cardiovascular Journal of Africa","article_published_time":"2026-09-11T06:43:03+00:00","author":"Jaco Moolman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jaco Moolman","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/","url":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/","name":"NT-proBNP in women with gestational hypertension, uncomplicated preeclampsia, normotensive pregnancies, and echocardiographic correlations - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-09-11T06:43:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/6bf8a30a039e93fd8112db707affb920"},"description":"To determine and compare serum NT-proBNP levels among women with gestational hypertension (GH), uncomplicated preeclampsia (PE), and normotensive pregnancies, and to assess their associations with maternal clinical characteristics and echocardiographic parameters.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-037\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NT-proBNP in women with gestational hypertension, uncomplicated preeclampsia, normotensive pregnancies, and echocardiographic correlations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/","name":"Cardiovascular Journal of Africa","description":"The Cardiovascular Journal of Africa is a peer-reviewed medical journal publishing leading research in cardiovascular health across Africa since 1990","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/6bf8a30a039e93fd8112db707affb920","name":"Jaco Moolman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/454c6719ed785bfd40e036ca3c3ac3347c56b4a99902df8beb62d882b1e6967f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/454c6719ed785bfd40e036ca3c3ac3347c56b4a99902df8beb62d882b1e6967f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jaco Moolman"},"url":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/author\/jacodesignconnection-co-za\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5725,"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723\/revisions\/5725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}