How the age you start having your babies can ‘increase your risk of deadly heart problems’
MUMS with more children have a higher heart risk, a study found.
Researchers said young mums are also more likely to suffer conditions like heart disease, irregular heartbeats and stroke.
They tracked data of more than 100,000 women to see how brood size impacts their cardiovascular health.
Dr Maddalena Ardissino, of Imperial College London, said the study shows “the need for doctors to monitor these risk factors closely in women and intervene where needed”.
She said: “Women are often mischaracterised as being at low risk for cardiovascular disease, leading to delays in diagnosis.
“Even when they are diagnosed, they tend to receive less targeted treatment than men.
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“This study shows a clear link between reproductive factors and cardiovascular disease.”
Researchers said this could be caused by short-term changes to the body during pregnancy, including being heavier and being more resistant to insulin.
Some women develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy, although it usually disappears after giving birth.
Writing in the study, they said: “Repeated exposure across multiple pregnancies and the potential persistence of some of these changes beyond delivery is likely to augment risk.
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“This is especially the case for some factors such as weight gain that require active motivation to reverse.”
More than 800,000 women in the UK have heart disease, a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels.
It includes heart attack, stroke and vascular dementia.
High blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, smoking and obesity are all known risk factors.
But little research has been done on how having lots of children or having them early affects the organ.
Dr Ardissino’s study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, investigated the link.
Women were divided into three categories: having fewer than, more than, or exactly two children.
Having more children increased the risk of heart failure by 90 per cent and doubled the chance of stroke.