One in 10 US births now comes with pregnancy-onset high blood pressure

One in ten U.S. mothers who gave birth in 2024 had gestational hypertension. In 2016 that was about one in seventeen (6.0% to 10.4%). CDC NCHS National Vital Statistics Reports Vol. 75 No. 4, recirculated late September 2026.

Counts rose from about 236,000 to 377,000. This is not pre-existing chronic hypertension. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy remain a leading cause of maternal death and illness and raise risks of abruption, organ injury, later heart disease, stillbirth, growth restriction, preterm birth, and low birthweight.

2024 rates: American Indian and Alaska Native 13.2%, Black 12.3%, White 11.3%, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 10.6%, Hispanic 8.5%, Asian 7.1% (Asian rate more than doubled). Age 40+ 12.2%. Underweight 5.5%, obesity 15.4%. Twins 17.0% vs singletons 10.2%. Louisiana 14.6%, New Jersey 6.9%. Every state rose.

Later births and higher BMI do not fully explain a rise inside every age and BMI band. Birth certificates also undercount (sensitivity 20-50% in two-state studies). Watch postpartum cuff programs and the next NCHS update.

Sources: CDC NCHS NVSR 75-04 (Gregory, 29 July 2026); Contemporary OB/GYN 29 September 2026.