Maternal Hypertension: mild abruption is not associated with clinically apparent hypertension. However, nearly 50% of cases of severe abruption with a dead fetus are associated with maternal hypertension, about half chronic and half pregnancy related; this rate represents a five-fold increase over the rate of hypertension in patients without abruption (7). These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that underlying maternal vascular disease is etiologic in both the hypertension and the abruption, and that abruption may be an even more sensitive indicator or vascular pathology than hypertension.