Single Birth and Pre-Eclampsia Increase Cardiovascular Death

Women who experience pre-eclampsia during pregnancy and have only a single history of giving birth are at greater risks of dying from heart disease later than women who have more children, a new study says.

A team of researchers from Norway looked at 8,36,147 women. All participants had given birth only once between 1967 and 2009. Professor Rolv Skjaerven at the University of Bergen and colleagues found, of the total participants, about 3,891 women dying due to cardiovascular reasons by 2009.

Women with pre-eclampsia and not giving birth more than once were found at a nine-fold risk of cardiovascular death compared to women having multiple birth history (2.4 fold). Even though previous studies have shown the risks, according to the authors, this is the first study to examine and find an association between number of births, pre-eclampsia and heart risks.

Researchers also found a subsequent pregnancy reducing the risks of premature death both for women with pre-eclampsia who gave birth prematurely or those having a full term birth.

However, in their opinion, women having pre-eclampsia and preterm birth should be observed carefully to avoid any risks.

"Cardiovascular death in women with pre-eclampsia in their first pregnancy is concentrated mainly in women with no additional births," they wrote, concluding that, "this association might be due to health problems that discourage or prevent further pregnancies rather than to pre-eclampsia itself. As a screening criterion for cardiovascular disease risk, pre-eclampsia is a strong predictor primarily among women with only one child-particularly with preterm pre-eclampsia."

Findings of the study have been published in British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Pre-eclampsia is a condition that triggers hypertension and will have a negative impact on both the pregnant woman and her baby. Between 5 and 8 percent of pregnancies in the United States is affected by this condition. Women suffering from pre-eclampsia will have high blood pressure, fluid retention and protein in the urine, leading to adverse impact on the growth of the unborn baby in the uterus. The exact cause of this condition is not yet fully known.