黑人女性, pregnancy complications could be early sign of heart disease risk

一项新的研究证实，在评估心脏健康方面, 医生可以问非裔美国妇女的一个重要问题是, “你在怀孕期间有并发症吗??"

这项研究周一发表在美国心脏协会的期刊上 循环:心血管成像, analyzed data collected on 439 African American women who had a coronary CT angiogram – a scan that takes images of the arteries that supply blood to the heart – and reported a previous pregnancy complication. These women were compared to 445 African American women with similar characteristics, 比如年龄, 体重和吸烟史, 谁也做过血管造影，但在怀孕期间没有出现问题.

The research team looked at three pregnancy complications: preterm delivery (giving birth before the due date), preeclampsia (high blood pressure) and gestational diabetes (diabetes that develops during pregnancy). The study showed women who had developed gestational diabetes were most likely to have an angiogram show the presence of coronary artery disease – narrowing or obstruction of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. 这些女性患2型糖尿病的可能性也更大, a condition that causes blood sugar to rise to potentially dangerous levels.

Dr. U. 约瑟夫Schoepf, 放射学教授, medicine and pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina who led the study, 他对调查结果并不感到惊讶.

"We know from prior literature that pregnancy problems such as gestational diabetes predispose a woman to coronary artery disease later in life," he said. “这不是一个新发现. We are the first in the field to show that you can use imaging to quantify the extent of disease in women who have had those risk factors."

冠心病是最常见的一种心脏病. It occurs when plaque builds up in the heart's arteries, a condition called atherosclerosis. 它是男女死亡的主要原因.

尽管这项研究只包括非裔美国女性, Schoepf said the findings could be applied to other races and ethnicities.

“对绝大多数年轻女性来说, 怀孕是对心脏的第一次真正的压力测试,肖普夫说. 当女性在怀孕期间患上糖尿病, "it's probably the first harbinger of disorders they could be prone to developing."

大约2%到5%的孕妇会患妊娠糖尿病, 根据美国怀孕协会. 如果不治疗, 妊娠期糖尿病会导致新生儿体重过大, 早产或对剖宫产的需求增加. Women with gestational diabetes also have an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life. 糖尿病是心脏病的一个已知危险因素.

Dr. Marysia S. Tweet, a cardiovascular medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, said it is important for women who have had pregnancy complications to "be aware that this history is associated with increased long-term health risks."

推特，谁写了一个 editorial 伴随研究而来的, said a diagnosis of gestational diabetes should alert women that it is even more important to "pay attention to aspects of their life that can be modified.“这包括不吸烟和控制血糖, 血压和胆固醇水平. These women should also "adopt heart-healthy eating habits and regular exercise with the goal of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight," she said.

Although the link between pregnancy complications and heart disease has been written about previously, Schoepf said there's still a lack of general awareness that what happens during pregnancy can serve as a red flag.

"There is a very long time between a young woman developing pregnancy complications and an older woman developing heart disease," he said. "We hope that research such as ours will raise awareness that primary care physicians and OB-GYNs need to alert and empower patients to be aware of their risks and inform the physicians they see later in life."

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