Mothers with pre-eclampsia are at risk of heart disease later

1. Vitamin B12 deficiency during pregnancy increases the risk of premature birth
2. New discovery: The female brain shrinks after pregnancy

High blood pressure that often threatens the lives of some pregnant women may also increase the risk of heart disease later, researchers have discovered.

A new finding suggests that women with a history of pre-eclampsia are more likely to face atherosclerosis, stiffen and narrow the arteries years later after pregnancy.

Pre-eclampsia is a condition that usually occurs from week 20 of pregnancy and can develop suddenly or slowly.

The complications it causes affect both the mother and the fetus, the level affecting between 2 and 7 percent during pregnancy.

Vesna Garovic from the Mayo Clinic in the US said: "We have found that pre-eclampsia continues to affect maternal health after giving birth."

Garovic added: "The good news is that we can use this finding to apply interventions earlier to prevent risk factors for later cardiovascular disease for pregnant women ."

According to information published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the team identified postmenopausal women with a history of pre-eclampsia and others with a history of normal pregnancy or normal blood pressure.

Then measure the thickness of the coronary artery lining, or the thickness of the artery wall, next to the blood test.

Results showed that the arterial wall thickness of women with a history of pre-eclampsia was significantly greater than that of pregnant women with normal blood pressure.

"Even without a history of cardiovascular diseases, women with immediate pre-eclampsia may also face a high risk of atherosclerosis in the postmenopausal years," Garovic said. .

"This makes pre-eclampsia a pregnancy complication that extends beyond pregnancy."