Predicting Future Health during Pregnancy

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in women in the UK. They account for a quarter of all deaths, three times more than breast cancer. Key to reducing cardiovascular disease risk and mortality is the early spotting of symptoms and signs that a woman is likely to suffer poor cardiovascular health in later life.

In the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), researchers looked at the health of some 13, 600 women during pregnancy in the early 1990s and followed their health and the health of their children across the following two decades.

The study looked into the association of pregnancy diabetes, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, preterm delivery and size for gestational age with the calculated 10 year risk of cardiovascular disease – measured on the Framingham score (based upon a famous study of several thousand people across many decades, tracking health problems and identifying factors that increased risk, including cardiovascular disease with high blood pressure, high blood glucose levels and many other compounding factors).

A clear trend was seen - HDP (hypertensive disorders of pregnancy) and pregnancy diabetes are both associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in the mother ten years down the line. Preeclampsia (when a pregnant woman suffers from extremely high blood pressure) was seen as the best predictor of future cardiovascular problems as it was seen to be associated with a wider range of risk factors after ten years.

Pregnancy is a time when a woman’s body is under an incredible amount of biological stress, so systems that may not be as strong as they are in some others can begin to show signs of failing. This makes pregnancy an important opportunity for early identification of women at increased risk of CVD later in life and will allow doctors and health professionals to give preventative advice for ideas such as small lifestyle changes and diet adjustments.

Are you at risk of cardiovascular disease later in life?

There are some factors that greatly increase your risk of suffering from CVD post-middleage. many of which you cannot control. Among these are:

• A strong family history - especally prevalent in some ethnic groups
• Being male
• Hair loss (eg, male pattern baldness)
• Early menopause in women
• Age (the older you are, the more likely you are to develop atherosclerosis

However there are also many things that you can do to reduce your cardiovascular disease risk, and improve your overall health.

Reducing your cardiovascular disease risk:

Being more physically active (walking to work, taking the stairs etc) has been shown to have a massive impact on reducing CVD risk. Keeping to a healthy weight is also very beneficial (that means neither too at nor too thin), if you are worried about your weight, you should speak to a GP.

Quitting smoking and reducing your drinking habits to around the recommeneded weekly allowance will bring about the greatest changes to your CVD and to your health in general.

Published The Yorker 1st March 2013