A large study finds that women who experience pregnancy complications are more likely to develop heart disease after giving birth.
The British newspaper “Daily Mail” said that researchers studied the cases of more than two million Swedish women who gave birth between 1973 and 2015, adding that they focused on five complications of pregnancy.
It relates to: high blood pressure disorders, pre-eclampsia, premature labour, low birth weight and gestational diabetes.
The results showed that the suffering of a pregnant woman from one of these complications increases her risk of heart disease in the future by up to double.
Overall, the scientists found that nearly 84,000 women, nearly 4 percent of the total sample, were diagnosed with heart disease at an average age of 58.
The researchers found that the women developed ischemic heart disease, a condition that occurs when reduced blood flow to the heart prevents the heart muscle from receiving enough oxygen.
“The results indicate that the five major pregnancy complications are independently associated with an increased risk of ischemic heart disease that may persist for up to 46 years after delivery,” the study said.
The results of the study were published last Wednesday in the British Medical Journal “BMJ”.
