A patient who is 16 weeks pregnant has a lower blood pressure than that of prepregnancy levels. What ...

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In some women, blood pressure actually decreases slightly during the second trimester because the expanding placenta causes peripheral resistance to circulation to lower. The lower blood pressure is not because prepregnancy blood pressure measurements were inaccurate. Blood pressure does not normally decrease throughout the entire pregnancy. There is no enough information to determine if the patient is dehydrated; however, this is not the reason for the blood pressure to be lower in the second trimester of pregnancy.