The BIRTHING of Cardiovascular Disease—Literally!
I’m sure by now you’re well aware of the common risk factors which lend themselves to cardiovascular disease: having elevated blood pressure, sugar and circulating fat levels, being overweight and under-exercised, eating a poor diet, and smoking cigarettes. But what you likely don’t know is that the circumstances surrounding your own gestation—or, if you are a woman who has procreated—your own pregnancy experience, could have seriously increased your risk for cardiovascular disease later on in life!
I know there isn’t a thing you can do about either of these past situations, but knowing certain medical situations occurred, I’ve learned, must prompt a more diligent pursuit of healthy heart practices throughout your life, even beginning in early childhood.
There are three pregnancy situations which should prompt this heightened cardiac awareness:
- Fetal growth restriction (a fetus who’s estimated to be below the 10th percentile for weight for their gestational age)
- Preeclampsia or Gestational Hypertension (maternal high blood pressure, with or without liver and kidney issues)
- Spontaneous Pre-Term Birth (delivered before 37 weeks gestation—greater than 3 weeks early)
If you happened to be born under one or more of the aforementioned circumstances, two things likely occurred in utero:
- Your body was prompted to express altered genes which helped you survive. Unfortunately, these genes, after utero, lend towards obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
- You experienced altered growth and fiber architecture of your heart muscle.
Ladies, if one or more of the above-mentioned circumstances describes your own pregnancy(ies), you were likely told that after you delivered your body and all your vital levels returned to normal that you were once again “healthy” or “back to normal.” The truth is that your pregnancy was like a stress test for your cardiovascular system. You weren’t “normal” going into your pregnancy, something was amiss in its early stages.
The fact is, recent studies from Denmark have shown a four-fold increased risk of chronic hypertension, congestive heart disease and death from stroke given these three pregnancy situations—whether you were the mother or the child.
In both cases, physicians serving in the newly emerging field of Cardio-Obstetrics recommend you make your primary care physician aware of your compromised history to ensure your metabolic health is more closely monitored throughout your lifetime.
Should you begin to show signs of elevated blood pressure or sugar levels, you might consider being followed by cardiologist because, and here’s the GOOD NEWS: 80% of heart disease is preventable!