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- Women who want to get pregnant should check for heart-related conditions before conception.
- Women with heart-related conditions are more likely to have pregnancy complications.
- Before falling pregnant, women should consult their healthcare practitioners.
Women who want to become pregnant should do heart-related health checks focusing on conditions like overweight, obesity, hypertension or diabetes to reduce their risk of pregnancy complications.
The study published in Circulation looked at how improved heart health can help prevent pregnancy problems.
The researchers collected data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Natality Database from 2016 to 2019. They identified more than 14 million women with pre-pregnancy health risk factors who had live births. The age range was 30 to 44 years.
The study authors looked at the participants' risk factors, such as weight and comorbidities before pregnancy. They considered optimal heart health as having a normal body weight with a Body Mass Index of between 18 and 24.9kg/m2 – without suffering from hypertension or diabetes.
Good heart health equals fewer pregnancy complications
The study found that more than one in two young women who gave birth in the US in 2019 had poor heart health before becoming pregnant. Poor heart health puts mothers-to-be and their babies at risk, with heart disease causing more than one in four pregnancy-related deaths.
The findings show that more than half of the women had at least one heart-related risk factor before falling pregnant. The most common risk factors were obesity and being overweight, linked to poor heart health before pregnancy.
"As women, we tend to think about the baby's health once we become pregnant, but what so many women don't realise is the very first thing they can do to protect their babies (and themselves) is to get their heart in shape before they even conceive," senior study author Dr Sadiya Khan said in a press statement.
Lifestyle changes before pregnancy
The researchers say that the key to a healthy pregnancy and delivery lies in lifestyle considerations in women. This includes exercise, eating a healthy diet filled with vegetables, whole grains and plant-based proteins, and avoiding tobacco to reduce their chances of being overweight, high blood pressure and diabetes.
They also recommend that women consult their doctors before becoming pregnant for guidance on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle before and during pregnancy.
"Women with favourable heart health before pregnancy are less likely to experience complications of pregnancy and are more likely to deliver a healthy baby. Even more importantly, optimising heart health before and during pregnancy can prevent the development of heart disease years later. Clinicians can play a key role in both assessing and optimising heart health prior to pregnancy," said lead study author Dr Natalie Cameron.
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