Miscarriage, stillbirth linked to higher risk of heart attack

A study in the journal Heart suggests that women who have experienced recurrent miscarriage or had stillbirth are much more likely than those who never have the condition to suffer a heart attack or myocardial infarction in later life.

Dr Elham Kharazmi, German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany and colleagues found having at least one stillbirth increased the risk of a heart attack by 2.65 times whereas having had more than three miscarries were nine times as likely to have a heart attack before adjustment for other risk factors.

The prospective population-based cohort study or EPIC-Heidelberg involved more than 11,518 women aged 35 to 66 of whom 25 percent had had at least one miscarriage, 18 percent had had at least one abortion and 2 percent had had a stillbirth.

During a 10-year follow-up, 82 women had a heart attack or myocardial infarction and 112 had a stroke. 

Women who had miscarried at least three times, that is, 69 out of the 2876 women who had miscarried, tended to have a heavy weight and women who had experienced a stillbirth were found more likely to be physically inactive and at higher risk of diabetes and high blood pressure, all of which are risk factors for heart attack and stroke.

The researchers did not find abortion had anything to do with risk of heart attack and stroke. But they found women with multiple miscarriages or stillbirth were at higher risk of heart attack.

Each stillbirth was found to increase the risk of myocardial infarction by 2.65 times.  The risk was still 2.32 times as great, even after adjustment for age, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, waist to hip ratio, physical activity, education, number of pregnancies, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and diabetes mellitus.

More than three miscarriages were associated with about nine times as high risk of myocardial infarction. After adjustments for confounders, the risk was still 5 times as high.

The researchers were able to estimate that each miscarriage increased heart attack risk by 40% and those women who miscarried more than twice boosted their heart attack risk by more than four times.

"These results suggest that women who experienced spontaneous pregnancy loss are at a substantially higher risk of [heart attack] later in life," commented the authors.

http://press.psprings.co.uk/heart/november/hrt202226.pdf

How to reduce risk of miscarriage

Eating fruits and vegetables in pregnancy may reduce the risk of miscarriage, suggests a study published in 2006 in the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr Maureen Maconochie from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colleagues followed up thousands of pregnant women and found the links between diet, lifestyle and miscarriage.

Those who used fruits and vegetables often in pregnancy were found 46 percent less likely to have a miscarriage, compared with those who did not use fruits and veggies as often. 

Using chocolate, vitamin supplements, dairy products, fish and white meat was also associated with a reduced risk of miscarriage. Regular chocolate eaters were 17 percent less likely to miscarry.

Those pregnant women who were underweight faced a 70 percent higher risk of having a miscarriage. And those who experienced experienced separation, divorce, illness and a stressful job were 60 percent more likely to miscarry, compared with those who felt related and happy in early pregnancy.