A new study shows women who experience postnatal depression and pregnancy complications may face a higher risk of developing cardiometabolic-renal conditions.
A woman cradling her baby post pregnancy
A new UK study into pregnancy has found that women who had experienced pregnancy complications had an increased risk of developing one or more cardiometabolic-renal conditions, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension) and chronic kidney disease in the years following pregnancy.
Published in the BMJ Medicine , the national consortium MuM-PreDiCT, found that gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia, whether experienced during the most recent or a previous pregnancy, were associated with increased risks of all four conditions studied.
Led by researchers from University of Birmingham and Kings College London, the study examined the associations between ten different pregnancy complications and four cardiometabolic-renal outcomes in 1.4 million women in England. Looking at complications occurring during women’s most recent pregnancy, as well as complications experienced during previous pregnancies.
Pregnancy is often a woman's first sustained contact with the health system, and complications during it can be an early sign of future health risks. Yet once a woman is discharged from maternity care, that information is too often lost.
“Our findings show that complications beyond gestational diabetes and hypertension also matter for long-term cardiometabolic -renal health. Recording them well, and passing them on to primary care, is a simple step that could help clinicians recognise women who need closer follow-up.”
The study also found that some lesser-known pregnancy complications were linked to health problems later in life. Women who had postnatal depression were more likely to develop all four heart, metabolic and kidney conditions the researchers looked at. Their risk of heart disease was more than 50% higher.
Preterm birth, stillbirth, miscarriage and placental abruption, where the placenta separates from the inner wall of the womb before delivery, were also associated with an increased risk of one or more of the cardiometabolic-renal outcomes.
Using large-scale primary care records, we could look at a wide range of pregnancy complications together rather than only focussing on one at a time. This gives a fuller picture of how a woman's pregnancy history relates to her long-term health. We now need to understand why these links exist and whether earlier support after pregnancy can change outcomes for women
The findings from the study align with a recent article in The Lancet’s Cardiovascular Disease and Pregnancy Series, which highlighted adverse pregnancy outcomes as early indicators of long-term cardiovascular risk and called for pregnancy history to be routinely documented and communicated beyond obstetric care.
Research Fellow
Staff profile for Dr Megha Singh, Research Fellow, Department of Applied Health Sciences, University of Birmingham
Lecturer in Epidemiology and Health Informatics
Staff profile page for Dr Francesca Crowe, Lecturer in Epidemiology and Health Informatics at the Department of Applied Health Sciences.
