Your risk of heart disease may start as early as in the womb, a new study from researchers at Northwestern Medicine shows.
Pregnancy complications in mothers with high blood pressure are linked to poorer cardiovascular health for their children more than 20 years later, they found.
The findings add to growing evidence that heart disease risk may be passed across generations and suggest that improving a mother’s health before and during pregnancy could slash disease risk.
The research could help to improve heart health outcomes in future generations.
Cardiovascular disease is currently the leading cause of death in the U.S., resulting in nearly 920,000 deaths in 2023, federal data shows. Coronary artery disease, the most common type of heart disease, made up more than. a third of those deaths.
The health of nearly 1,350 mothers and their children was evaluated up until the children turned 22, using data first collected between 1998-2000 across 20 U.S. cities.
The scientists identified whether mothers experienced pregnancy complications using hospital records. They also used blood pressure readings, blood tests, body mass index assessments and arterial ultrasounds to analyze the children’s cardiovascular health.
Then, they compared participants who were and were not exposed to each pregnancy complication, accounting for potential contributing factors like smoking and lifestyle.
Children whose mothers had high blood pressure during pregnancy had higher body mass index, higher blood sugar levels, higher blood pressure and thicker artery walls.
Their arteries appeared three-to-five years older, raising their risk of heart disease, the study found.
High blood pressure disorders affect between 5-10 percent of women during pregnancy, and there has been a 25 percent increase in these cases over the past 20 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fortunately, high blood pressure and heart disease risk are things that people can influence – and even reverse – by eating a healthy and nutritious diet, getting enough exercise, avoiding drugs and alcohol and sleeping well.
American adults should get seven hours of sleep each night and at least 150 minutes of exercise each week for optimal health, the CDC says.
These are behaviors that are learned from an early age, too. They start with the parents.
“If you experienced high blood pressure or high blood sugar during pregnancy, or your child was born early, it does not absolutely mean that your child will have worse health as adults,” Dr. Nilay Shah, assistant professor of medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. explained in a statement. “But I would encourage you to pay attention now to your child’s health behaviors.”