Study of 2.2m healthcare records highlights need for joined up maternal health support from first appointment.
Women who have two or more existing conditions face a higher risk of developing pregnancy-related complications according to a new study that demonstrates the clear need for a holistic approach to managing perinatal health of mothers and babies.
In the first UK study of its kind, published today in The Lancet Public Health and co-led by researchers at the University of Birmingham, anonymised records from more than 2.2 million pregnancies were analysed to see how common pregnancy complications are among women with two or more existing health conditions, which affects around one in five pregnant women in the UK.
Researchers compared women who had multiple long-term physical or mental health conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression or anxiety, which were present prior to conception. The team compared these patients with those who had none, to understand the impact of these conditions on pregnancy risks.
The study found that women with multiple conditions were more likely to experience a range of pregnancy complications, including severe pregnancy sickness, gestational diabetes, raised blood pressure and pre-eclampsia, liver conditions, placental abruption, blood clots and miscarriage.
These women were also several times more likely to experience anxiety and depression during pregnancy, with the study finding that the risk of pregnancy complications continued to increase with each condition.
Around one in five pregnant women in the UK currently live with two or more long-term health conditions. However, maternity care is still largely organised around one condition at a time, meaning women with multiple long-term conditions are often looked after by several teams working separately, with no monitoring of the combined risk of these conditions.
Birmingham researchers carried out the study in collaboration with members of the MuM-PreDiCT Consortium, a UK-wide research program studying pregnant women who have two or more long-term physical or mental health conditions. Funded by the Medical Research Council, it spans eight universities across all four nations of the UK to improve maternity care.
Researchers hope that the study's findings will change the standard care, with women identified at their first appointment that would trigger a single joined-up plan across obstetric, medical and perinatal mental health teams, rather than parallel clinics. This would include closer monitoring for the complications that were raised the most in findings, blood clots, pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, anxiety and depression.
The study is funded by the UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund and the Department of Health and Social Care via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and delivered by the Medical Research Council (MRC).
The MuM-PReDiCT consortium was established with the aim of improving care for pregnant women with multiple long-term health conditions. Further work within MuM-PreDiCT will examine birth and child outcomes and identify which combinations of conditions carry the greatest risk.
For media enquiries and more information please contact the University of Birmingham Press Office, tel: +44 (0)7815 607 157.
About the study:
Kent L, Wambua S, Singh M, et al., on behalf of the MuM-PreDiCT Group. Antenatal outcomes for women with multiple long-term conditions in pregnancy: a UK-wide retrospective cohort study. The Lancet Public Health 2026,DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(26)00148-9.
Data sources: Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) Gold, Born in Bradford (BiB), the SAIL Databank, Scottish routine health records (SRHR) and the Northern Ireland Maternity System (NIMATS).
Funded by the Strategic Priority Fund ‘Tackling multimorbidity at scale’ programme (MR/W014432/1), delivered by the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health and Care Research in partnership with the Economic and Social Research Council and in collaboration with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
More on MuM-PreDiCT: https://www.mumpredict.org/
About the University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, educators and more than 40,000 students from over 150 countries.
England’s first civic university, the University of Birmingham is proud to be rooted in one of the most dynamic and diverse cities in the country. A member of the Russell Group and a founding member of the Universitas 21 global network of research universities, the University of Birmingham has been changing the way the world works for more than a century.
Research Fellow
Staff profile for Dr Megha Singh, Research Fellow, Department of Applied Health Sciences, University of Birmingham
