Connecting women with pregnancy high blood pressure to heart-health care after birth
Official title: System factors influencing the postpartum transition to primary care for cardiovascular disease risk management among women with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy
Funded at Baystate Medical Center, INC. · NIH-11309666 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how health care systems help or block women who had high blood pressure during pregnancy from getting heart-health care after delivery.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Baystate Medical Center, INC. NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Springfield, United States) |
| Project start | April 15, 2023 |
| Project end | March 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $534,998 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HL164489-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11309666 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are women who experienced hypertensive disorders during pregnancy (chronic hypertension, gestational hypertension, or pre-eclampsia/eclampsia) and are in the postpartum period.
✕Less likely to help
People who did not have high blood pressure during pregnancy, are not postpartum, or are already well-connected to primary care for cardiovascular risk may not benefit directly from this work.
What this research studies
If you had high blood pressure during pregnancy, this project follows how you move from maternity care to a primary care doctor for heart-risk checks after delivery. Researchers will review medical records and clinic processes, and talk with patients and health care staff to learn what helps or gets in the way of follow-up care. They will look at whether blood pressure, cholesterol, and other heart-risk factors are checked and treated after birth. The team will use these findings to suggest system-level changes to make postpartum heart-health care easier to get.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could make it easier for postpartum women with hypertensive pregnancy conditions to get timely heart-risk checks and treatment, lowering their future risk of heart disease.
How similar studies have gone: Previous research shows many women with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy do not connect to primary care after birth, and while this problem is documented, system-focused solutions are still relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Baystate Medical Center, INC.
Springfield, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Geissler, Kimberley Lynn H — Baystate Medical Center, INC.
- Study coordinator: Geissler, Kimberley Lynn H
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.