It’s well known that the heart works harder amid pregnancy to address the issues of the mother and baby. Be that as it may, the effect of pregnancy on the improvement of resulting heart disease is controversial.
In a new study by the European Society of Cardiology suggests that giving birth is associated with a 14% higher risk of heart disease and stroke compared to having no children.
For the study, scientists gathered data from around the world to conduct a meta-analysis. Ten studies were included involving 3,089,929 women, of whom 150,512 developed heart disease or stroke during an average follow-up of 6 to 52 years.
Study author Dr Dongming Wang, of the School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College said, “The mechanisms underlying the associations we observed are complex. Pregnancy may lead to inflammation in the body, and the accumulation of fat around the abdomen, in the blood, and in the arteries. These changes could have permanent effects on the cardiovascular system, leading to a higher risk of heart and stroke later in life.”
Scientists identified a critical relationship between consistently conceiving an offspring and the danger of cardiovascular disease. Women who had conceived an offspring had a 14% higher chance of developing heart disease or stroke than the individuals who had never conceived birth.
At the point when the analysts dissected the relationship as per the number of births, there was proof of a J-shaped relationship. Each birth was related to a 4% higher likelihood of treating cardiovascular disease, paying little respect to body mass index, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and income level. Similar relationships were observed for various kinds of cardiovascular disease, with each live birth being associated with 5% and 3% higher dangers of coronary disease and stroke, respectively.
Dr. Wang said, “Doctors have a role to play here. Women should know that having children may raise their chance of future heart disease or stroke and that more pregnancies could be increasingly risky. The good news is that there is a lot that women can do to prevent cardiovascular disease.”
“Pregnancy is a good time to get rid of bad lifestyle habits. So quit smoking, exercise regularly, eat healthy food, and keep weight gain under control. Keep these habits after pregnancy, get more exercise to reduce abdominal fat, and watch the fat content in your diet to keep blood lipids at a healthy level.”