Objective To investigate whether there is any abnormal cardiac autonomic nervous activity in patients with gestational hypertension in the first trimester of pregnancy, and to analyze influencing factors of gestational hypertension. Methods A total of 1,243 pregnant women who successfully delivered in the Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from September 2021 to January 2022 were selected as the study subjects, among which 1,200 healthy cases of term delivery were assigned to the healthy group, and 43 cases of gestational hypertension were selected as the gestational hypertension group. The two groups of pregnant women were compared in the general data and the short-term heart rate variability (HRV) frequency-domain indexes in the first trimester of pregnancy (8-12 weeks pregnant), and influencing factors for gestational hypertension were analyzed by the multivariate logistic regression model. Results The number of conceptions in the gestational hypertension group was less than that in the healthy group, the basal systolic blood pressure, basal diastolic blood pressure, and body mass index were higher than those in the healthy group, and the short-term HRV frequency-domain indexes, including total power, low-frequency power, high-frequency power, and the proportion of high-frequency power in the total power, were lower than those in the healthy group (all P<0.05). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that many conceptions and a large proportion of high-frequency power in the total power were independent protective factors for gestational hypertension, and a high basal systolic blood pressure and a high body mass index were independent risk factors for gestational hypertension (all P<0.05). Conclusion Pregnant women with gestational hypertension have abnormal cardiac autonomic nervous activities in the first trimester of pregnancy, and pregnant women with abnormally weakened vagus nerve activities in the first trimester of pregnancy are more likely to develop gestational hypertension. Many conceptions and a large proportion of high-frequency power in the total power are independent protective factors for gestational hypertension, and a high basal systolic blood pressure and a high body mass index are independent risk factors for gestational hypertension.