Study Links Pregnancy Loss to Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Pregnancy loss is an unfortunate reality faced by many expectant couples. According to Hope XChange, every year there are 4.4 million confirmed pregnancies in the U.S. and 900,000 - 1 million of these end in pregnancy losses every year. About 26,000 end in stillbirth and 19,000 in infant death during first month. Almost 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage.

 A new study led by physicians in the Center for Primary Care and Prevention at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island found that recurrent pregnancy loss ups the risk of cardiovascular diseases later on for women. The finding was based on analysis of data retrieved from the maternity experiences of 77,701 women.  Out of these 30.3 percent had a history of pregnancy loss, 2.2 percent had a history of stillbirth and 2.2 percent had a history of both.

"We found that the adjusted odds for coronary heart disease in women who had one or more stillbirths was 1.27 (95 percent confidence interval (CI), which is a measure of reliability, 1.07-1.51) compared with women who had no stillbirths," Dr. Parker said in a press statement. "For women with a history of one miscarriage, the odds ratio was 1.19 (95 percent CI, 1.08-1.32). For women with a history of two or more miscarriages, the odds ratio was 1.18 (95 percent CI, 1.04-1.34) compared with no miscarriage."

There was no significant association existing between ischemic stroke and pregnancy loss.  The link between pregnancy loss and coronary heart diseases was independent of hypertension, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio and white blood cell count.

The finding further supports the theory that metabolic hormonal and hemostatic pathway alteration that is linked with miscarriage may further contribute to the development of coronary heart disease in adulthood.

Based on this finding, the researchers emphasize on the need to closely monitor women with a history of miscarriages or single stillbirth for certain risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, obesity, smoking and obesity.

The finding was documented in the Annals of Family Medicine.