Pregnancy complications can cause heart problems for kids later in life: study

By Isobel Williams via SWNS

Pregnancy complications can cause heart problems for children later in life, warns a new study.

Researchers found that more than half of the children who had a complicated birth were at a greater risk of heart disease and stroke by the age of 12.

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and gestational diabetes are two of the most common pregnancy complications and put them at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life.

A new study to be presented at the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine’s annual meeting suggests that these pregnancy complications may also result in worse cardiovascular health for the child.

To get their results the team analyzed 3,317 maternal-child pairings, examining whether there was a connection between hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and gestational diabetes and a child’s cardiovascular health.

On the maternal side, eight percent developed high blood pressure during pregnancy, 12 percent developed gestational diabetes, and three percent developed both high blood pressure and diabetes.

The researchers then studied the child’s cardiovascular health 10 to 14 years after delivery, evaluating health based on body mass index, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and glucose level.

All of these metrics were categorized as either ideal, intermediate, or poor.

The results, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, showed that before the age of twelve, 55.5 percent of the children had at least one metric that was non-ideal, which puts them at greater risk of heart disease and stroke.

Lead author assistant professor Kartik Venkatesh, from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centre in Columbus, said: “These findings are important because traditionally, the thinking has been that a person’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease starts after birth — that everyone starts at the same point.

“These data suggest that’s not the case and that what happens in the womb can affect the child across their lifespan.”