More Live Births may Increase Risk of Heart Disease

A recent study shows that women who give birth to four or more children are more likely to develop symptoms associated with plaque in the heart.

Earlier studies have shown a direct connection between certain aspects of pregnancy that come with live births and elevated risks for cardiovascular disease.

"This is not a recommendation for women to only have two or three children," said Monika Sanghavi, M.D., chief cardiology fellow, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and lead investigator of the study, via a press release. "Our findings add to the growing body of evidence that the changes associated with pregnancy may provide insight into a woman's future cardiovascular risk and deserves further attention."

For the study, researchers examined 1,644 women as subjects from the Dallas Heart Study-a multiethnic population based sample.

"Pregnancy has been called 'nature's stress test,' and for good reason," Sanghavi said, via the release. "It may also help identify women who are at increased risk [for heart disease], even though right now they may not have any risk factors."

However, women that had no children were not necessarily without risk, according to the findings. In fact, the study revealed that women with zero or just one live birth were also at risk of heart issues--subclinical atherosclerosis, in particular.

"The benefit of pregnancy is that it occurs relatively early in a woman's life and allows for early intervention for those at higher risk," she added, via the release. 

More information regarding the findings will be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.