Cardiovascular Health During Pregnancy: Future Health Implications for Mothers

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Healthy pregnancy requires profound maternal vascular, immune, and metabolic adaptations to support placentation and fetal growth. It is now well established that an impaired ability to mount these adaptations contributes to adverse pregnancy outcomes. Pregnancy now can be viewed as a “stress test,” with adverse pregnancy outcomes being a harbinger of excess cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Thus, we review the current evidence that links pregnancy features to maternal CVD risk.

Recent Findings

The most recent work demonstrates that cardiovascular risk is detectable within 1 to 5 years after pregnancy. Rates of hypertension as soon as 1 year post-partum are quite high in women with gestational hypertension, and cardiac structure differences can be detected as soon as 5 years post-partum following preeclampsia.

Summary

Pregnancy complications can identify CVD risk during the reproductive years and provide opportunities to improve women’s health. We summarize the next steps needed to leverage pregnancy as a window to improved maternal cardiovascular health.

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