Memorial research links pregnancy loss, disease

PAWTUCKET – The Annals of Family Medicine has published an article showing that women with a history of pregnancy loss are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease later in adulthood than other women. The work was completed by physicians in the Center for Primary Care and Prevention (CPCP) at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island.

The article “Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Among Postmenopausal Women with Prior Pregnancy Loss: The Women’s Health Initiative” stems from the analysis of data from the maternity experiences of a sample of 77,701 women, according to Donna Parker, director for community health and research with the CPCP. Of those, 30.3 percent reported a history of miscarriage, 2.2 percent a history of stillbirth, and 2.2 percent a history of both.

“These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that the metabolic, hormonal and hemostatic pathway alterations that are associated with a pregnancy loss may contribute to the development of coronary heart disease in adulthood,” Parker said.

The researchers found no significant association of ischemic stroke and pregnancy loss, Parker said. The association between pregnancy loss and coronary heart disease appeared to be independent of hypertension, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio and white blood cell count.

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Women with a history of miscarriage or a single stillbirth should be closely monitored and receive early intervention from their primary care physician so risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, obesity, smoking and diet can be closely monitored and controlled.

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