Women who faced pregnancy complications or those with poor heart health after pregnancy are at a significantly higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life, a study has revealed. However, researchers also found that maintaining or improving cardiovascular health through a healthy lifestyle could cut the risk.
“Previous studies have shown that women with a history of adverse pregnancy outcomes tend to have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life. However, it is unknown how much of this increased cardiovascular disease risk can be potentially modified by healthy lifestyle behaviors,” lead study author Dr. Frank Qian said in a news release.
The researchers used data from the UK Biobank with health records of about 500,000 adults, including data from 2,263 women with a prior diagnosis of adverse pregnancy outcomes and 107,260 women with no history of complications during pregnancy. The study investigated the relationship between Life’s Essential 8 scores and the risk of heart disease in participants, including both those who experienced complications and those who did not.
The study took into account pregnancy complications, including placental abruption, gestational diabetes, small size for gestational age, pre-term birth, and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy such as preeclampsia or gestational hypertension.
Life’s Essential 8 are important factors that help improve heart health which include: eating well, staying active, quitting smoking, getting healthy sleep, and keeping weight, cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure in check.
Based on adherence to these factors, cardiovascular health scores were calculated from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better cardiovascular health.
None of the participants had heart disease at the beginning of the study. However, after an average of 13.5 years of follow-up, 197 cardiovascular disease events were reported among the group with a history of adverse pregnancy…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply