Cardiologist Dr. Monika Sanghavi, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, found that women who give birth to four or more children are more likely to have cardiovascular changes that can be early indicators of heart disease. Credit: UT Southwestern
Women who give birth to four or more children are more likely to have cardiovascular changes that can be early indicators of heart disease than women who have fewer children, new research by UT Southwestern Medical Center cardiologists finds.
"This study adds to a body of evidence that pregnancy, which generally occurs early in a woman's life, can provide insight into a woman's future cardiovascular risk," said Dr. Monika Sanghavi, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and lead author of the study.
Using data gathered for the Dallas Heart Study, researchers compared the number of live births reported by women in the study with their coronary artery calcium (CAC) levels and aortic wall thickness (AWT). High levels of coronary artery calcification and thicker aortic walls are markers of heart disease that show up before symptoms develop.
Women were divided into three groups: One or no live births, two to three live births, and four or more live births. Women who reported four or more live births had a 27 percent prevalence of a high calcium score compared with 11 percent among those with two to three live births. The trend was similar when looking at AWT measurements.
The associations were not affected by adjusting for socioeconomic status or traditional cardiovascular risk factors, suggesting that physiological changes associated with pregnancy may account for the change, Dr. Sanghavi said.
Further studies will be needed to identify the causes, but researchers said one possibility might be that women who have many pregnancies may have more visceral fat (fat around abdominal organs), which has been linked to increased heart disease risk. Another possibility could be that increased cholesterol and higher blood sugar associated with pregnancy may lead to increased risk.
"During pregnancy, a woman's abdominal size increases, she has higher levels of lipids in her blood, and higher blood sugar levels," Dr. Sanghavi said. "Each pregnancy increases this exposure."
The study also found slightly higher rates of high CAC and AWT measurements among women who had one or no children, compared with women who gave birth to two or three children, suggesting a U-shaped association between number of births and heart disease, with the lowest risk at two or three births.
"It's likely that there is a different mechanism for the increased risk at the low end," Dr. Sanghavi said. "Some of these women could have some underlying disease that prevents them from carrying births to term and increases their risk for heart disease."
"We are learning that there are numerous physiologic changes during pregnancy that have consequences for future heart health," said senior author Dr. Amit Khera, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, who directs the Preventive Cardiology Program and holds the Dallas Heart Ball Chair in Hypertension and Heart Disease. "This study reminds us of the importance of taking a pregnancy history as part of cardiovascular disease screening."
Researchers in the Division of Cardiology of Internal Medicine and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UT Southwestern examined data reported for 1,644 women in the Dallas Heart Study, which has collected heart-related data from a sampling of Dallas County residents for more than a decade to help identify social and biological variables contributing to ethnic differences in cardiovascular health. The research appears in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Explore further: Number of babies mom has may play role in future cardiovascular health
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Number of babies mom has may play role in future cardiovascular health
Women who give birth to four or more children are much more likely to have evidence of plaque in their heart or thickening of their arteries – early signs of cardiovascular disease – compared with those having fewer pregnancies, ...
Hispanic women with multiple births may face increased risk of cardiovascular disease
Hispanic women who have five or more successful births may have a significantly increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease than those with no or fewer births, according to research presented at the American Heart ...
Gestational diabetes may raise risk for heart disease in midlife
Pregnant women may face an increased risk of early heart disease when they develop gestational diabetes, according to research in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Study first to identify spontaneous coronary artery disease as inherited
A Mayo Clinic study has identified a familial association in spontaneous coronary artery dissection, a type of heart attack that most commonly affects younger women, suggesting a genetic predisposition to ...
Mechanical heart valves increase pregnancy risk
The fact that mechanical heart valves increase risks during and after pregnancy, has been confirmed by data from the ROPAC registry presented for the first time today in an ESC Congress Hot Line session by Professor Jolien ...
Recommended for you
Discontinuing statins for patients with life limiting illness
Discontinuing statin use in patients with late-stage cancer and other terminal illnesses may help improve patients' quality of life without causing other adverse health effects, according to a new study by led by researchers ...
Study first to identify spontaneous coronary artery disease as inherited
A Mayo Clinic study has identified a familial association in spontaneous coronary artery dissection, a type of heart attack that most commonly affects younger women, suggesting a genetic predisposition to ...
Brain activity during cardiac arrest
All over the world, researchers are trying to solve an age-old mystery: What happens in the brain when the heart stops? With the support of the Austrian Science Fund FWF, medical experts from Vienna are participating ...
Better blood pressure management may help slow the aging process
Could the aging process be slowed by aggressively managing an older person's high blood pressure?
Exposure to bushfire smoke increases risk of cardiac arrest in men over 35
Men over 35 have an increased risk of cardiac arrest if exposed to poor quality air from bushfires, a new study has found.
Public outcomes reporting tied to lower PCI rates for acute MI
(HealthDay)—Public reporting of outcomes may be tied to lower rates of percutaneous revascularization and higher in-hospital mortality among acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients in reporting states, ...
User comments
Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more
Click here to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.
Cardiologist Dr. Monika Sanghavi, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, found that women who give birth to four or more children are more likely to have cardiovascular changes that can be early indicators of heart disease. Credit: UT Southwestern
Women who give birth to four or more children are more likely to have cardiovascular changes that can be early indicators of heart disease than women who have fewer children, new research by UT Southwestern Medical Center cardiologists finds.
"This study adds to a body of evidence that pregnancy, which generally occurs early in a woman's life, can provide insight into a woman's future cardiovascular risk," said Dr. Monika Sanghavi, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and lead author of the study.
Using data gathered for the Dallas Heart Study, researchers compared the number of live births reported by women in the study with their coronary artery calcium (CAC) levels and aortic wall thickness (AWT). High levels of coronary artery calcification and thicker aortic walls are markers of heart disease that show up before symptoms develop.
Women were divided into three groups: One or no live births, two to three live births, and four or more live births. Women who reported four or more live births had a 27 percent prevalence of a high calcium score compared with 11 percent among those with two to three live births. The trend was similar when looking at AWT measurements.
The associations were not affected by adjusting for socioeconomic status or traditional cardiovascular risk factors, suggesting that physiological changes associated with pregnancy may account for the change, Dr. Sanghavi said.
Further studies will be needed to identify the causes, but researchers said one possibility might be that women who have many pregnancies may have more visceral fat (fat around abdominal organs), which has been linked to increased heart disease risk. Another possibility could be that increased cholesterol and higher blood sugar associated with pregnancy may lead to increased risk.
"During pregnancy, a woman's abdominal size increases, she has higher levels of lipids in her blood, and higher blood sugar levels," Dr. Sanghavi said. "Each pregnancy increases this exposure."
The study also found slightly higher rates of high CAC and AWT measurements among women who had one or no children, compared with women who gave birth to two or three children, suggesting a U-shaped association between number of births and heart disease, with the lowest risk at two or three births.
"It's likely that there is a different mechanism for the increased risk at the low end," Dr. Sanghavi said. "Some of these women could have some underlying disease that prevents them from carrying births to term and increases their risk for heart disease."
"We are learning that there are numerous physiologic changes during pregnancy that have consequences for future heart health," said senior author Dr. Amit Khera, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, who directs the Preventive Cardiology Program and holds the Dallas Heart Ball Chair in Hypertension and Heart Disease. "This study reminds us of the importance of taking a pregnancy history as part of cardiovascular disease screening."
Researchers in the Division of Cardiology of Internal Medicine and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UT Southwestern examined data reported for 1,644 women in the Dallas Heart Study, which has collected heart-related data from a sampling of Dallas County residents for more than a decade to help identify social and biological variables contributing to ethnic differences in cardiovascular health. The research appears in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Explore further: Number of babies mom has may play role in future cardiovascular health
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Number of babies mom has may play role in future cardiovascular health
Women who give birth to four or more children are much more likely to have evidence of plaque in their heart or thickening of their arteries – early signs of cardiovascular disease – compared with those having fewer pregnancies, ...
Hispanic women with multiple births may face increased risk of cardiovascular disease
Hispanic women who have five or more successful births may have a significantly increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease than those with no or fewer births, according to research presented at the American Heart ...
Gestational diabetes may raise risk for heart disease in midlife
Pregnant women may face an increased risk of early heart disease when they develop gestational diabetes, according to research in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Study first to identify spontaneous coronary artery disease as inherited
A Mayo Clinic study has identified a familial association in spontaneous coronary artery dissection, a type of heart attack that most commonly affects younger women, suggesting a genetic predisposition to ...
Mechanical heart valves increase pregnancy risk
The fact that mechanical heart valves increase risks during and after pregnancy, has been confirmed by data from the ROPAC registry presented for the first time today in an ESC Congress Hot Line session by Professor Jolien ...
Recommended for you
Discontinuing statins for patients with life limiting illness
Discontinuing statin use in patients with late-stage cancer and other terminal illnesses may help improve patients' quality of life without causing other adverse health effects, according to a new study by led by researchers ...
Study first to identify spontaneous coronary artery disease as inherited
A Mayo Clinic study has identified a familial association in spontaneous coronary artery dissection, a type of heart attack that most commonly affects younger women, suggesting a genetic predisposition to ...
Brain activity during cardiac arrest
All over the world, researchers are trying to solve an age-old mystery: What happens in the brain when the heart stops? With the support of the Austrian Science Fund FWF, medical experts from Vienna are participating ...
Better blood pressure management may help slow the aging process
Could the aging process be slowed by aggressively managing an older person's high blood pressure?
Exposure to bushfire smoke increases risk of cardiac arrest in men over 35
Men over 35 have an increased risk of cardiac arrest if exposed to poor quality air from bushfires, a new study has found.
Public outcomes reporting tied to lower PCI rates for acute MI
(HealthDay)—Public reporting of outcomes may be tied to lower rates of percutaneous revascularization and higher in-hospital mortality among acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients in reporting states, ...
User comments
Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more
Click here
to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.
0 comments:
Post a Comment